Automatic Ticket Vending Machines (ATVMs) to be expanded on a big scale on SCR

Shri P.K. Srivastava, General Manager, South Central Railway announced the plans to expand Automatic Ticket Vending Machines (ATVMs) o­n a big scale to cover all major stations o­n South Central Railway (SCR) in a phased manner. He spoke o­n these plans for installing the ATVMs at a Press Meet he addressed today i.e., 20^thMay, 2014 at Secunderabad Railway Station.                     

At present, 71 ATVMs are functioning at 26 MMTS stations in the twin cities of Hyderabad / Secunderabad. Around 9000 tickets are being issued from these ATVMs benefiting over 12000 passengers o­n an average per day. With a view to encourage patronage amongst the rail users, 34 facilitators (Service Agents) have been posted at major stations to enable sale of General / Platform Tickets through ATVMs. Following the encouraging feedback and response from the public, SCR has drawn up a plan to expand this facility so as to cover all major stations in the 6 Divisions viz. Secunderabad, Hyderabad, Vijayawada, Guntakal, Guntur and Nanded o­n SCR.           

487 new ATVMs will be setup o­n the Zone shortly at an estimated cost of Rs. 26 Crs. These include 312 Smart Card based ATVMs to be procured at a cost of Rs. 5.4 Crs. and 175 versatile ATVMs (cash / coin based) to be procured at a cost of Rs. 15 Crs. The procurement of these ATVMs is being handled by the Center for Railway Information Systems (CRIS). The plans envisage installation of these ATVMs in phases at more than 150 railway stations across the Zone in the next 2 years.

Elaborating o­n the project to setup ATVMs across SCR o­n a big scale, the General Manager stated that required number of officers and staff will exclusively be deployed for this project for taking up works in a focused manner. With plans to employ facilitators at ATVMs o­n need basis for servicing the passengers, the project will help in generating indirect employment opportunities too. Shri P.K.Srivastava spoke of prioritizing the installation of ATVMs since this facility will ease congestion / queues at general booking counters at stations which see a heavy rush of public purchasing general / unreserved / platform tickets.