Railway Board sanctions 500 ATVMs for Western, Central Railway to make travel on locals easier

Railway Board sanctions 500 ATVMs for Western, Central Railway to make travel on locals easier

In the coming months, suburban railway commuters will be able to purchase tickets from Automatic Ticket Vending Machines (ATVMs) without using a smart card or depending on a facilitator, with the Railway Board sanctioning 500 such machines for Mumbai suburban railways. To use the new cash operating ATVMs, commuters will only be required to select the destination and then put coins or cash in the designated slots in the machine to procure a ticket.

Of the 500 new machines, 270 have been sanctioned for Western Railway (WR) and the remaining for Central Railway (CR), said a senior railway officer. A total of 3, 000 coin/cash operated ATVMs will be purchased across the Indian Railways.  While an ordinary ATVM costs around Rs 1.5 lakh, a coin/cash operated machine costs around Rs 7 lakh.

“An infrequent traveler does not prefer blocking Rs 100 by purchasing a smart card. Using cash to directly purchase tickets from the ATVMs will a better option. Also, since the ATVM is automatic, there is no need to put facilitators to sell tickets through it,” said a WR officer.

The cash operated ATVMs were first tested at Churchgate railway station on WR in the year 2012. However repeated failures marred the successful functioning of two prototypes that were tested.

Apart from a restriction on the denomination of coins, there were other technical glitches like difficulties in cash dispensation that kept commuters away from using the machines.

Following repeated failures, WR removed the two machines in a few months. However, in 2013, CR started a pilot project on its system by redesigning a ticket booking window at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) and installing a single machine there for better maintenance.

“While the sale of the tickets has been low, the glitches have been significantly reduced,” said a CR official.

Both CR and WR expect that the new machines will be improved versions of the prototypes and are more commuter friendly.

Source: Indian Express