No long queues for rly tickets now

Serpentine queues at ticket counters of railway stations are a common sight. In a bid to avoid this inconvenience, the Vijayawada division of South Central Railway (SCR) has introduced Automatic Ticket Vending Machines (ATVMs) at railway stations on Wednesday.

So far eight ATVMs have been set up at the railway station- four at the main entrance and two each at the east and south entrances. Speaking at the launch of ATVMs, divisional railway manager Ashok Kumar said, “ATVMs are a step towards adoption of new and advanced technology for improvement of passenger amenities at the railway stations.”

Ashok informed that another 100 ATVMs will be procured in the coming three months to set up the machines at A and B centre railway stations in the division. The introduction of ATVMs will promote cashless transactions and improve the functioning of railways, besides reducing the work load on employees.

The ATVMs will issue unreserved and platform tickets to passengers. All one has to do is have a smart card of Rs 50, which can be recharged with desired amount and used to book tickets. Tickets from the ATVMs can be taken three days before the date of journey.

For every recharge of the smart card, the passenger will get a discount of five per cent on the fare. “Passengers with smart cards can even get the tickets through facilitators who are available at the ATVMs without paying any extra charge,” Ashoka Kumar said, while explaining the functioning of the ticket vending machines.