Passengers traveling in Indian Railways always face a problem to get confirmed tickets and many passengers get waiting list or RAC ticket in which two passengers are allotted same berth.
However, with the advent of the new Hand-Held Terminal (HHT), Indian Railways has been able to facilitate about 7,000 unconfirmed ticket holders on an average daily basis to get confirmed seats in trains on real time basis in the last four months.
How HHTs work on a real-time basis:
HHT enables to download the reservation chart on the device and mark the turn-up/non-turn up status of the passengers. After preparation of the second reservation chart, the vacant accommodation, if any, is shifted to the next remote location for booking.
Indian Rail is providing Handheld Terminal (HHT) to Train Ticket Examiners (TTEs) to check reserved coaches, allot vacant berths and disseminate information on available berths at subsequent stations. HHT can also access the ticketing application and collect additional fares as per rules. The terminal can potentially connect to a point of sale (POS) machine and charges can be collected digitally.
HHTs, which come in the shape of an iPad, contain passenger reservation charts for trains that are preloaded. With the help of HHT, ticket examiners of Indian Railways can now browse through these devices for real-time updates on bookings instead of going through paper charts as before as these are linked to the passenger reservation system central server.
Hence, if a passenger with a reserved ticket does not cancel or cancel his/her journey at the last minute, the vacant berth is displayed on the HHT device which enables the Train Ticket Examiner (TTE) to allot the wait-listed passenger OR Cancellation on board (RAC) reservation against passenger.
An official said that passengers with RAC or waiting list tickets can check with the TTE carrying HHT about the availability of vacant berths on real time basis, thereby bringing transparency in the allotment of berths in running trains.
According to data accessed by PTI, under the project launched about four months ago, TTEs of around 1,390 trains are carrying around 10,745 HHT at various stages of their journey or parts of their journey in the train every day.
In the last four months, on an average, 5,448 RAC passengers and 2,759 wait-listed passengers were allotted clear berths daily through HHT.
Apart from berth allotment to RAC or wait-listed passengers, about 7,000 unused vacant berths are also being issued daily to PRS through HHT to make them available for booking from next stations on the route of trains. statistics.
Officials said that in the next three to four months, these HHT devices will be made available in all long distance trains, including weekly and bi-weekly.
HHT can also be used to collect additional fare, fines and other charges from passengers through digital payment options. They will also be used to issue receipts to them in future, he added.
Officials said that once the HHT system is implemented, it will be ensured that the priority of RAC or waitlisted passengers is not missed in taking the train berth.
In manual reservation charts, there was a tendency to offer empty berths to passengers who did not board the train to others.
Now through computerized system, the availability of vacant berths and allotment of tickets to waitlisted passengers will be monitored online in real time, thereby eliminating the scope for rigging in allotment.
*With inputs from PTI
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