VIJAYAWADA: Vijayawada Railway Division is issuing hand-held terminals (HHTs) to its travelling ticket examiners (TTEs) on 99 percent of its trains, thereby enabling easy checking of tickets, particularly of those travelling on reserved tickets.
Senior divisional commercial manager Vavilapalli Rambabu said they have issued 417 HHTs to TTEs on board 248 of total 250 express trains of the division. The HHT confirms presence of the person travelling on the reserved ticket. This means in case passengers with confirmed reservations do not turn up, their seats can be allotted to RAC / waitlist passengers.
Vijayawada division had used these hand-held terminals on daily intercity trains of Vijayawada on a pilot basis. With excellent outcomes and outstanding feedback from ticket checking staff, Vijayawada division now has HHTs on 99 percent of trains originating, terminating and passing through the Vijayawada division.
Rambabu requested travelling public to board trains at their respective journey commencing stations or change their boarding points well in advance before the preparation of the chart. In case they miss doing so, their seats will be deemed vacant and automatically allotted to RAC / waitlist passengers. Passengers with reserved tickets who board at subsequent stations will thus forfeit their berth. The TTE will have no discretion in the matter.
The senior divisional commercial manager pointed out that as manual charts have been dispensed with, allotment of vacant berths to RAC / waitlist passengers or releasing them to next remote location has become automatic. HHTs have brought in transparency in allotment of berths to passengers and facilitate paperless digital working.
Rambabu said HHTs have enabled TTEs to carry out their duties with ease and comfort. As the HHTs auto generate summary reports at the end of the journey, TTEs do not have to worry about this aspect. For Indian Railways, they reduce demand for printing stationery.
