Indian Railways will move towards contactless ticketing like at airports with QR code-enabled tickets. At Prayagraj Junction of North Central Railway, the contactless ticket-checking with an airport-like check-in for all passengers has been introduced. If a passenger enters the station, the QR code of his ticket is scanned through a mobile application by ticket checker and this gets updated within the software’s database. The time of scanning the QR code also gets updated within the application.
Indian Railways QR code-enabled Tickets System
“We have introduced a QR code system, which will be given on tickets. If one buys online, the code is going to be provided on the ticket. Even on window tickets, where one gets a physical ticket, a text message is going to be sent to the passenger’s mobile, which will have a link, and therefore the QR code is displayed when the link is opened” said by VK Yadav, Indian Railway Board Chairman
“Then the TTE at the stations or on the trains, either with their hand-held equipment or through their mobile phones which will have a QR application, are going to be able to scan the code and immediately capture the details of the passengers. therefore the ticketing system is going to be completely contactless,” he added.
He said the IRCTC website is going to be completely redesigned and therefore the processes simplified, personalized, and even integrated with hotel and meal bookings. The railways have digitized all its assets for better monitoring. it’s also introduced a geo-portal and developed application for all its fixed assets like tracks, signaling, OHE, and other electrical assets, which are mapped.
According to Indian Express, The station has check-in counters like airports to minimize the exposure of the checking staff to the passengers. The QR code is scanned and therefore the thermal screening of passengers initiated at these counters.
Onboard ticket-checking staff also gets information on passengers simultaneously — all information is provided to their machines, including a coach-wise display with the number of berths, unbooked berths, and the number of the boarding pass.
Yadav confirmed that the railways aren’t getting to go completely paperless as of now, but will considerably reduce its use by facilitating online booking of reserved, unreserved, and platform tickets.
He also revealed that the railways have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for satellite-tracking of trains. This helps in capturing real-time data of the speed and size of the trains, provides accurate real-time information to passengers about arrival and departures.
The Indian Railway Board chairman said within the first cycle, GPS devices are equipped on 2,700 electric locomotives and three, 800 functional diesel locomotives. within the second cycle, a further 6,000 locomotives are going to be coupled by December 2021.