Kolkata (Calcutta) Guide

Many a time we are in a hurry and don't have time to stand in a long que to buy railway tickets. At that time even if we have to shell out some extra money to get the ticket faster, we are ready to do so. Especially in busy station like Sealdah, where at any given time at least 100 people are standing in a que, if we get the ticket without standing in such a que then we feel really lucky. I think after reading this post many people will start feeling lucky and will save a lot of their precious time. The Indian Railways has started Jansadharan Ticket Booking Sevaks (JTBS) in all its Zones. Many passengers don't know about these counters. The JTBS is an Indian railways approved all station ticket counter. You can buy local train tickets from these counters without standing in long ques... in return you have to pay a commission of Re. 1/- per ticket.

Life in Kolkata's (Calcutta's) suburbs is very much dependent on railways, In other words, Kolkata Suburbs is connect to Kolkata (Calcutta) mainly by these Local Trains. Similar to Mumbai local trains which are called "Lifeline of Mumbai", Kolkata (Calcutta) Local trains are heavily used/availed. People have their own group of "Train Friends". People play Cards, Discuss Cricket and football and even indulge in grave discussions on current affairs and also comment on "Anandabazaar ki bollo (what did Ananda Bazar Patrika say about a particular news)". There is a particular name given to people who travel daily by these trains - "Daily Passenger" and traveling daily is known as "Daily Passengery", though the word "Passengery" is no where in the English dictionary :) .Few years back even I was a daily passenger. We used to remember the train timings by heart coz if you miss one train then you have to wait at least 20...

UPDATE : Now passengers have to pay whatever is displayed on the meter... No extra Addition or Multiplication ... :) From 1st November 2012 Government of West Bengal has increased taxi and bus fares in Kolkata (Calcutta), as a result people (Passengers in general) are quite confused as the taxi drivers are charging whatever they wish coz the meters are the same only the way to calculate the fare has changed. So just to clear this "air of confusion" I am putting up this post.