Mumbai’s central railway stations to get 318 new ATVMs

Passengers use these smart-card based machines to book single-journey tickets and monthly pass.

In major relief for smart-card users, the central railway (CR) plans to get 318 new red Automatic Ticket Vending Machines (ATVMs). Commuters prefer ATVMs, as it saves them the hassle of waiting in long queues at ticket windows.

Passengers use these smart-card based machines to book single-journey tickets and monthly pass. (FILE)

The CR gets around 40 lakh commuters daily. Passengers use these smart-card based machines to book single-journey tickets and monthly pass. SK Jain, divisional railway manager of CR’s Mumbai division, said, “The first lot of 72 ATVMs has arrived. They are being installed.”

The new machines have a different design. “In the old ATVMs, commuters have to place the smart card on the reader of the machine, but in new machines, it has a separate slot like ATMs,” said a senior official. “We have commissioned 10 new machines today. All machines will be opened to public in the next few days.”

The CR said that new machines are sturdier and faster than the existing ones. “The printer is placed in a separate drawer to reduce the impact of dust and humidity,” said Sunil Udasi, chief public relations officer of CR.

The CR had got more than 600 ATVMs in phases, but many these machines are now out of order either due to technical reasons or damage. According to CR officials, they were getting repeated complaints about the machines and they required constant repairs.

Jain said they are trying to promote app-based mobile ticketing and have provided separate machines to scan the code and for printing tickets at various stations.