Railways extend ‘smart’ travel beyond Mumbai

The railways have extended the use of its pre-paid smart card, in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, to mainline electric trains and diesel multiple unit shuttle trains that run along the city’s periphery.

With this, lakhs of commuters who travel daily beyond the city limits will be benefited. Until now, smart cards were applicable only to suburban train stations.

“You can now buy tickets for Vasai-Panvel shuttle trains on the same card. There are four various route options and the passenger can select the most convenient one,” a senior WR official said.

The railway smart card, called the Automatic Ticket Vending Machine (ATVM) card, has been a hit with Mumbai’s 7 million commuters.

As crowds at the booking counters increase, the railways will be pumping in more and more of these machines. To encourage their use, CR has decided to man them with railway employees.

“ATVMs and smart cards will get more common and commuters should be given more options. We had been working on plans to go beyond suburban routes on these machines and this is a first in the series,” he added.

At Delhi, for example, the ATVM system is being introduced with the capability of multiple applications like for Delhi Metro etc.