RailEnquiry

No more long queues or facing the cumbersome process of using smart cards. For the convenience of commuters, the South Central Railway (SCR) has roped in some retired railway employees to work as Automatic Ticket Vending Machines (ATVMs) facilitators at a few stations in the city.

These ATVM facilitators will operate the machines and issue MMTS, platform and general second class tickets. Under a pilot project, 21 retired employees have been deployed at Secunderabad, Hyderabad, Begumpet, Lingampally, Sitaphalmandi, Kacheguda and Malakpet railway stations.

They also issue general second class tickets of ordinary or express trains originating or passing via Secunderabad and Hyderabad to different destinations under SCR limits. Commuters can purchase their tickets from ATVM facilitators without paying any extra service charge. In fact, SCR would be paying five per cent commission to them on the total value of tickets sold.

Everyday about 8,860 tickets are issued through 76 ATVMs provided at 16 MMTS stations in twin cities. On an average, 60 new ATVM Smart Cards, which are key to access the machines, are sold and about 460 Smart Cards are recharged per day.

Currently, close to 11,000 passengers are using ATVMs to purchase their tickets though their capacity is much more. It would be an advantage for commuters if they buy tickets from ATVMs directly or through ATVM facilitators. They don’t have to stand in long queues at the counters and can purchase tickets without any fuss, explains a SCR spokesperson.

ATVMs were introduced in February 2010 in twin cities. But they evoked poor response from commuters for varied reasons, including lack of awareness to operate the machines along with recurrent technical snags.

SCR had conducted a few awareness programmes early this year at Secunderabad and Hyderabad railway stations to popularise use of ATVM and smart cards. Yet, authorities feel there is still some potential to increase the sale of tickets through these machines. Hence retired employees were roped in to make the process easier for commuters.