The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Platform ticket vending machines installed at Central Railway Station

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Dec 27, 2006
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Platform ticket vending machines installed at Central Railway Station

P. Oppili

Imported from Austria at a cost of Rs.2.24 lakh each

MORE SLEEK AND FAST: A visitor to the Central Railway Station inserting a coin to get a platform ticket from the new vending machine on Tuesday. — PHOTO: K.PICHUMANI

CHENNAI : Two sleek platform ticket-vending machines have been installed at the Central Railway Station recently.

The machines built for relatively rougher Indian conditions and imported from Austria at a cost of Rs.2.24 lakh each, can print and output tickets faster than the locally-built machines used earlier. Visitors can insert coins of Rs.5, Rs.2 or Re.1 or even 50 paise to get platform tickets, officials said.

"We faced problems with the indigenous version, as people used to drop objects such as blades or metal pieces which paralysed the machine. Similarly, even dropping a damaged coin could affect the functioning of the indigenous model. But, this one could take even a damaged coin and release the ticket," a senior railway officer said.

Another officer noted that the new machines were waterproof and introduced at the Central Railway Station on a trial basis. They were also planning to install similar machines in other important suburban railway stations in a phased manner, they said.

Another officer said the Railway Board had already approved installation of ticket-vending machines, where one could be able to get even unreserved tickets. The Board had approved the prototype of the machine, which would be allocated to the Central and Western Railways. The Southern Railway had also requested the Board to provide the machines to be installed at major stations.

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