Customised ATVMs at railway stations soon

In an experiment that could help thousands of commuters currently wasting precious time standing in ticket queues on the Western Railway, the authorities are in the process of introducing customised Automatic Ticket Vending Machines (ATVMs) that would cater to particularly popular stations and dispense tickets to a particular station at the touch of a button.

Currently, ATVMs dispense tickets for all stations, and customisation would require a tweaking of the software that controls the ticket-printing mechanism in the machines.

“We found that from Andheri the two most popular stations in the Up direction was Parel and Mahim and in the Down direction was Kandivali. If we can customise some ATVMs at Andheri so that they can give out tickets for these stations at the touch of a button, then we will be able to lessen the queue at ticket windows. This way, other commuters at the ticket window can get their tickets faster,” said the official.
binoo.nair@dnaindia.net