Southern Railway extends season pass distance by 10km

Southern Railway (SR) has sanctioned the issue of season pass on certain routes for a distance up to 160km, after acceding requests of rail passenger associations, season ticket users and rail users.

The 10km extension has been allowed by the general manger of SR nearly eight months after the Railway Board (RB) had issued orders allowing general managers to decide on exemptions in the (season pass) distance limit beyond 150km and up to 160km for season passes in certain sections.

Exemptions beyond 150km were issued only to those sections where they were being issued prior to 1951. DT Next had reported in January 2019, a month after the circulation of the RB order, about passengers demanding the zonal management to emulate Mumbai (Western railway) in extending the season pass distance limit in Chennai division. At present, exemption has only been given from Chennai to Tirupati in Chennai railway division. Going by the extension of SR management, people would be able to avail season pass for travel from Chennai Central to Melalathur and Chennai Egmore to Gudiyattam. 

A senior SR officer stated that season tickets could be availed from both ends in the above pairs of stations apart from UTS (Unreserved ticketing system) Mobile App which has been updated to facilitate the extension in the said sections. Though the extension would be welcome by regular commuters on Chennai – Arakkonam section, the distance limit relaxation would not benefit people travelling on Chennai – Villupuram section. Season passes are issued only till Tindivanam (122km) on this section, forcing season pass holders to break the journey at Tindivanam and take a bus to Villupuram to cut cost on travel.