(a) whether the Government are aware that railway enquiry lines 131, 132, 133 and 135 in Bangalore hardly ever function;
(b) if so, whether there is any proposal to increase the number of lines; and
(c) if so, the steps proposed to be taken in this regard?
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS (SHRI DIGVIJAY SINGH)
(a): The enquiry line 131 relating to manual reservation enquiries and 132 relating to manual enquiries regarding arrival/departure of trains are functioning normally. However, the utilization level of these lines is very high. The service of taped information on telephone number 133 is temporarily out of order on account of technical defects. Service on phone number 135, which was related to Bangalore Cantonment station, has been merged with the existing services on 131 and 132.
(b)&(c): Yes, Sir. There is a proposal to increase the number of lines for reservation related enquiries. There is also a proposal to introduce automatic train arrival/departure enquiry service through Interactive Voice Response System. Both these proposals will be commissioned before the end of this financial year. As regards temporary defects of telephone number 133, action has been initiated to set right the same.