Soon, token tickets to decongest rail platforms

Mumbai: If the Railways has its way, you may soon need a token ticket to step on platforms across stations. The Centre for Railway Information System (CRIS) is working on a pilot project for decongesting platforms and weeding out squatters by bringing in technology that will bar commuters from entering without their season pass or platform token ticket. Entry and exit points of railway stations will have a system similar to the Mumbai Metro where season passes and platform tokens are read by a machine before allowing commuters to pass through.

To start with, the system will be checked at a suburban station in Delhi after which, the Railways will try it out in Mumbai – the railways’ heaviest suburban section in the country. A senior CRIS official on condition of anonymity said, “There will be two major advantages of the system being implemented. Firstly, the unnecessary rush you see on platforms will be reduced to almost half as there are a lot of squatters and people just killing time at stations which our stations cannot afford due to sheer number of people. Secondly, by making the platform ticket necessary for those who might be coming to see off or pick up their family/friends, we will have some revenue coming in.”

Meanwhile, a senior railway official said while it was a good step, it would take time to be implemented. “Firstly, Mumbai suburban has 72 stations and so, this will take time as all those entry/exit points will have to be plugged. It has been discussed with railway minister Suresh Prabhu well and so steps were taken in that direction.