KOZHIKODE: When the swiping machines (point of sales-PoS machines) were introduced in major railway stations across Palakkad division, the passengers and the railway staff hoped that it would ease the ticket booking process and reduce the burden on the staff of dealing with liquid cash. However, even after five months, the passengers are not enthusiastic due to the technical glitches in the transaction. The situation is the same in other divisions also.
While booking is easy using the PoS machines, in case of a cancellation, the refund amount would be credited after nearly two months, according to sources. “So when a person books the ticket for a higher class and later cancels it, money is held up for months and the people feel dejected,” said a railway official. Also, the facility of modification of a reserved ticket (changing travelling date) is not possible for the tickets booked using the PoS machine.
While the transactions are faster, in some places the use of Rupay and Maestro cards is reportedly causing delay. The service provider of the PoS machines is the State Bank of India (SBI). “When the PoS machines were introduced, I was keen to use them. However, when we hear the technical glitches there is an aversion to taking the debit card out,” said Gireesh Kumar, a passenger. “The authorities should correct the glitches and I am sure the public will use the cashless system,” he added.
The passengers have demanded provisions to facilitate the modification of tickets while booking using PoS. The PoS machines have been installed in 18 passenger reservation systems across Palakkad division and 12 Integrated Unreserved Ticketing System (IUTS) counters. They have been installed in seven parcel centres too. In the unreserved ticket counters, the machines are mainly used for issuing season tickets.
