Initiative to Reduce Queues for Purchase of Train Tickets

It is a fact that during peak rush hours/days, there are long queues at the booking counters/windows of major stations. With a view to facilitate passengers in getting unreserved tickets, various steps have been taken, some of which are as under

i. Jan Sadharan Ticket Booking Sewak (JTBS) have been engaged in various parts of important cities to issue unreserved tickets through computerized Unreserved Ticketing System (UTS).

ii. Station Ticket Booking Agents (STBA) have been engaged to issue unreserved tickets at ‘E’ category stations.

iii. Yatri Ticket Suvidha Kendras (YTSK) have been established on public private partnership basis for issuing reserved/unreserved tickets through computerized Passenger Reservation System (PRS) -cum-UTS terminals, outside railway station premises.

iv. Automatic Ticket Vending Machines (ATVM) and Cash-Coin & Smart Card operated Versatile Ticket Vending Machines (CoTVM) have been installed to facilitate easy booking of unreserved tickets through cash/coin/smart card.

v. Booking of unreserved tickets through cash/smart card.

http://pib.nic.in/newsite/erelease.aspx?relid=133879

 

New refund system at smaller railway stations from December 1

The Ministry of Railways has introduced a new facility to benefit passengers seeking cancellation of tickets after the closure of Passenger Reservation System (PRS) at railway stations where there are no current reservation counters.

With effect from December 1, 2015, one existing Unreserved Ticketing System (UTS) counter in such stations will be earmarked as UTS-cum-PRS facility where passengers will be granted refund across the counter.

However, for tickets booked using credit card, the earlier system would continue, railway sources said on Tuesday.

This initiative is seen as a great relief to passengers who want to cancel their confirmed or waitlisted ticket after 8 p.m. when the computerised reservation counters close.

“In stations like Virudhunagar, Dindigul, Thanjavur, Tuticorin, Puducherry, Sivakasi etc there is no provision for current reservation counter after 8 p.m. for cancellation of tickets. Passengers have to wait till the next morning or deposit their tickets at the UTS counter, obtain a receipt and apply separately to the competent authority for refund within 90 days,” a railway official said.

Under the new system of refund at smaller stations, passengers would not be issued a cancellation ticket. But in cases where the ticket is partially cancelled, a fresh ticket would be issued after refund.

The new system will benefit a large segment of passengers as the facility of current reservation counter is available only at major stations in Southern Railway, the sources added.

To benefit those who wish to cancel tickets after computerised reservation counters close.

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-tamilnadu/new-refund-system-at-smaller-railway-stations-from-december-1/article7914267.ece

 

Towards a decentralised ticketing system

The introduction of Automatic Ticket Vending Machines (ATVMs) is just one of the many initiatives by the Railways to decentralise issuing of tickets in order to ease the rush at counters.

In all, 27 ATVMs have been approved for the Mysuru Railway Division, of which five will be installed at the city station and the rest will be installed at Shivamogga, Hassan, Davanagere, Arasikere, Haveri and other stations across the division.

Besides ATVMs — which are an offshoot of the Unreserved Ticketing System (UTS) — the Railways have introduced ‘Operation five minute’ counters to reduce the pressure at the current booking counters. The ‘Operation five minute’ counters are destination-specific ticket-dispensing windows in which a person is assured of getting an unreserved ticket to a specific end-point (not for intermediary stations).

This personnel-manned counter is functional at the Mysuru Railway Station from 6 a.m. to 6.45 a.m. for the Bengaluru-bound Chamundi Express which is patronised by several people. The counter becomes functional again between 3.30 p.m. to 5.30 p.m. to coincide with the departure of trains to different destinations.

The Jan Sadharan Ticket Booking Sewaks (JTBS) is another mode through which passengers can procure ticket from authorised agents to avoid crowding at the station. There are seven JTBS operating in Mysuru besides four India Post PRS counters. With the Indian Railways contemplating expansion of UTS on mobile – which is already operational in Mumbai and Chennai suburban services – so as to introduce paperless ticket by sending an SMS to one’s mobile phone, one can procure railway tickets on-the-go obviating the need for last-minute panic of queues at the station.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/karnataka/towards-a-decentralised-ticketing-system/article7691534.ece

 

Indian Railways scheme: Book unreserved tickets via mobile app on Delhi-Palwal route

Indian Railways commuters travelling between New Delhi and Palwal in Haryana can now buy unreserved tickets using their mobile phones by just downloading an App.

This initiative, which will become operational from next month, is a part of efforts to make unreserved tickets paperless and save the commuters from the trouble of standing in queues to buy an unreserved tickets.

Under the initiative, a commuter using Android or Windows smartphone can access the Unreserved Ticketing system (UTS) application.
With the ticket booked through the UTS application, a commuter can travel ticketless to any desired destination on the 52-km Delhi-Palwal section. The commuter just has to show the booking details on the mobile, a railway official said.

The ticket can be purchased using debit or credit card.
There are about 15 stations between Delhi and Palwal including Nizamuddin, Tughalakabad, Faridabad and Ballabgarh which will be all covered under the paperless ticketing system for local travellors, the official added.

Developed by Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS) on mobile the paperless unreserved ticketing feature in mobile application aims to eliminate the need for printing of unreserved tickets.

The App, which is for both Android and Windows platforms, can be downloaded from Google Play Store or Windows Store and used by the user.

The application provides necessary on-screen alerts to guide the passenger during the booking process.
However, ticket windows will also be made available for passengers despite the operation of paperless mobile ticket system in the suburban section.

Such an initiative is already being tried on Egmore-Tambram suburban section in Chennai and Churchgate-Dahanu section in Mumbai and Delhi-Palwal will be the first in the north zone.

It was a budget proposal to provide paperless tickets in unreserved segment and we have to implement it in all suburban sections across the country, the official said.

FE

 

Railways Give Aesthetic Look to Passenger Tickets

While Indian Railways continue to struggle for providing quality food and travel experience to passengers aboard trains, it has decided to give a aesthetic and uniform look to passengers tickets. Railway Board has already circulated the set format of passenger tickets to all zonal railways for the same.

The need to have a uniform look for passenger tickets was felt as at present 16 different format of tickets under unreserved ticketing system (UTS) are prevalent in different zones in the country.

The existing format of UTS tickets has been reviewed in consultation with CRIS (Centre for Railway Information Systems), the IT arm of railways. Of the 13 million passengers who travel by train, nearly 12 million are unreserved passengers.

“Based on feedback received from CRIS, it has been decided that 16 formats of UTA tickets may be replaced with seven formats,” said an order issued by Vikram Singh, Director Passenger Marketing, Railway Board.

The specifications say that the size of the ticket shall remain same 120mmX64mm with advertisement and 103mmX64mm without advertisement. The printable area shall be 78mmX59mm. The caption of ‘Happy Journey’ (in English and Hindi) shall be printed at one side of Indian Railways logo and pre-printed stock number on the other side of Indian Railways logo.

According to CRIS official, a design competition was held whereby ideas were crowd sourced and some of the best have been selected.

“The idea was to give aesthetic and uniform look to UTS tickets and now all zones have been instructed to take necessary actions,” said the official.

Railway has also tied up with Ahmedabad based National Institute of Design (NID) for an image over of state run transporter and passengers can expect designer interiors, quality beddings, innovative designing, green toilets and user friendly coaches.

The NID will improve passenger services through innovative ideas focusing on people, environment and sustainability through this Research Centre. It will also design ladder for upper berths, lighting arrangements at stations and circulating areas to give an aesthetic touch to rail facilities.

Railway has signed agreements with other ministries for making a coordinated effort to improve services. It already has arrangements with the road transport ministry for construction of ROB/RUB, coal ministry for improving coal linkage and urban development ministry for development of areas around railways stations.

Indian Express

http://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/Railways-Give-Aesthetic-Look-to-Passenger-Tickets/2015/07/13/article2918244.ece

 

ER to appoint agents to sell reserved tickets

Till now, agents appointed by the railways could only issue e-tickets. Eastern Railway will soon engage people to operate Yatri Ticket Suvidha Kendras (YTSKs) to sell normal reserved and unreserved tickets through the Indian Railways’ Passenger Reservation System (PRS) and Unreserved Ticketing System (UTS). This is an attempt to rationalize staffing and allow people to book tickets nearer to home. This will also reduce touting to a large extent.

“Railway minister Suresh Prabhu doesn’t want people to waste more than five minutes at ticket booking counters. As it is nearly 45% sales at PRS counters fell after online ticketing became popular. In our efforts to rationalize staff, we have closed down several PRS counters. The employees are being deployed elsewhere. Instead of continuing with PRS counters we will engage agents to operate YTSKs. Such people will pay for the equipment and a licence fee and they can then access the PRS. We shall issue them blank rolls with the help of which they will issue reserved and unreserved tickets to people. We want to extend services so people do not queue up at counters. We also want more unreserved ticket counters. We already have 66 Jansadharan Ticket Booking Seva (JTBS) counters under ER. In the first quarter of this year, we have issued 26 new licences though our target was 15. There are 11 JTBS counters near Sealdah and they are doing roaring business. Unfortunately, the one near Howrah isn’t too popular. Why do people want to waste 15 minutes in queue when they can get a ticket immediately by paying an additional rupee? To reduce queues, we have also introduced exact fare counters,” ER general manager R K Gupta told TOI.

While promoting JTBS counters, ER also wants to introduce new schemes to issue non-reserved tickets. The Automatic Ticket Vending Machines (ATVMs) that are operational now can only be used by those who have smart cards issued by the railways. To help others, the railways has appointed sahayaks with cards to issue tickets from ATVMs. Passengers need not pay extra for this. ER now plans to introduce ‘versatile’ ATVMs that will issue tickets for cash.

“We will get 75 versatile ATVMs. These will not only accept cash but also return change. We want to get 10-15 such machines operational by August this year. By promoting the YTSKs, JTBS counters and ATVMs, we hope to reduce the booking time for tickets to five minutes or less,” Gupta added.

TOI

 

‘Go India’ Smart Card for Passengers to Buy Train Tickets?

The card is smart but those who cannot use it in 6 months have to renew it by paying Rs.50 and there lies the catch with Indian Railways Smart Card in an Internet and Smartphone age.

Otherwise, the “Go-India” smart card scheme launched on pilot basis on two sectors — New Delhi-Mumbai and New Delhi-Howrah — enables passengers to pay for reserved and unreserved tickets.

The smart card can be used at Unreserved Ticketing System (UTS)/ Passenger Reservation System (PRS) counters and at Automatic Ticket Vending Machines (ATVMs) on these two sectors for issuing tickets.

Its key features include:
·The card can be bought by paying Rs.70/ minimum and the passenger will get Rs.20/ in his balance. The card can be recharged in multiples of Rs.20/- , Rs.50/- or up to Rs. 5000/-. Maximum limit on Go-India smart card is Rs.10,000/-.

· Go-India smart card has life time validity but in case of no usage in 6 months from the date of last transaction, smart card will be temporarily deactivated and the buyer has to pay Rs.50 again to activate it again and this is non-refundable activation fee.

T\he ministry says the scheme is intended to reduce the transaction time at the booking counters for the convenience of passengers as it facilitates cashless transaction. In an internet and smartphone age, its utility still smacks of old-time practices.

In fact, the card should have been introduced in metros and city transportation for daily passengers.
It is still not known whether the scheme will continue or not as it is in pilot stage and final approval will be known after the evaluation.

 

Authorised agents to directly issue train tickets in India

Authorised railway agents who have a clean track record for the past five years will soon be directly issuing train tickets from their computer terminals.

The Railway Board has decided to extend its computerised passenger reservation system (PRS)-cum-unreserved ticketing system (UTS) facility now available at stations and post-offices to authorised ticketing agents.

As many as 22 Yatri Ticket Suvidha Kendras (YTSKs) are coming up in Ahmedabad alone at offices of reputed agents equipped with all required infrastructure on par with railway PRS centres.

The Railways will provide four computer terminals, ticket printers, modems, etc to the agents, they will have to hire two data/communication channels between his location and the nearest computerised PRS centre.

While the access to each terminal will be charged at the rate of Rs160,000 a year, the Railways will give the PRS ticket rolls of distinct colour free of cost to the agents. Social worker R R Goswami, who travels extensively by trains, said the indirect move to privatise railway operations will add to the fare burden on passengers as Rs 30 will be charged extra for each ticket.

The Indian Railways, one of the world’s largest rail networks, daily ferries 23 million travellers on 12,000 passenger trains. The network is spread over 64,000 route km and has 7,083 stations.

Khaleej Times

 

Railways launches Go-India smart card

As smart cards are increasingly becoming popular among the people, the Railways has now launched Go-India Smart Card.

Introduced as a pilot project, this value proposition would cover 11 stations of the New Delhi-Mumbai and New Delhi-Kolkata sections spread over six Zonal Railways.

New Delhi has been identified as one of the centres under the pilot project for the Go-India Smart Card scheme.

Under this project, two counters — one for Unreserved Ticketing System (UTS) and another for PRS (Passenger Reservation System) — have been made operational towards Ajmeri Gate side at

New Delhi station and a separate counter for issuing Go-India Smart card has also been opened.

Go-India Smart Card can be used for railway application such as Unreserved Ticketing System (UTS), Passenger Reservation System (PRS) and Retiring Room (RR) counters and existing Automatic Ticket Vending Machines (ATVMs).

It will be a separate card from existing ATVM smart card. Go-India smart card can be used across UTS, PRS, RR and existing ATVM of Indian Railway, but existing ATVM smart card can be used only across ATVMs of that region.

Validity of Go-India smart card is unlimited but, if no transaction are done within six months then it will be temporarily deactivated which can be activated again by paying Rs 50 as activation charge.

On Go-India Smart card at ATVMs/UTS counters, instead of giving bonus advantage, discount (5 per cent) will be given on ticket and passenger can take non-concessional season ticket through UTS counters also but as per policy, passenger will get discount on suburban journey ticket, non-suburban journey ticket up to 150 KMs, platform ticket only, miscellaneous ticket and money receipts will not be allowed through Go-India smart card.

In case of PRS/RR tickets, there is no bonus/discount advantage given at the time of booking and during booking/issuance of ticket, ticket fare/amount will be directly debit from the Go-India smart card.

The Go-India Smart card would save passengers from the hassles of coin change and queue time at counters.

Zeebuz

 

Railways give one year extension to coupon validating machines

Coupon Validating Machines (CVM) system has got an extension from the railway board for one year.

Railway board had decided to discontinue CVM system at the end of this financial year as it is not linked to unreserved ticketing system (UTS) of the centre for railway information system (CRIS) that helps keep a tab on fraudulent transaction.

A western railway (WR) official said, “The extension has been granted for the benefit of commuters for whom this is still a popular mode of buying ticket.”

A railway official said, “Around 18% of the total ticketing on WR and 5% on central railway (CR) is through CVM. ”

On CR, the sales of CVM booklets dropped have drastically in the past two years. The reason being that people have to stand in queue to buy these coupons. On WR, the authorities still allow out of turn sale of tickets and hence the system is still popular.

On Mumbai suburban system, commuters can buy ticket through booking windows at railway station, Jansadharan Ticket Booking Sevak Centres outside the station premises, smart card operated Automated Ticket Vending Machines and CVMs. As many as 40 lakh commuters travel on central railway and 35 lakh on WR suburban train system.

TOI