The Automatic Ticket Vending Machines at the various railway stations in the city were introduced by the South Central Railway to ease the sufferings of passengers by easily dispensing tickets, thus saving them time waiting for their turn at ticket counters.
The machines, each costing around Rs. 2 lakh, were installed at Nampally, Secunderabad, Begumpet, Kachiguda and Hi-Tech City stations.
Of these, Nampally and Secunderabad stations are the biggest, with the most number of passengers.
The machines in these 2 stations were expected to be the most used. Surprisingly they are the least used, because of the simple fact that they have been out of service since some time now.
An 'out-of-service' sign pasted on the machines reveals that the non-functioning is not temporary, and is considered to be long-term by the station management. If it was temporary, the sign would have been hung there or at least affixed with adhesive tapes.
When the station masters were asked about the non-functioning of the machines, it was revealed that a technical snag had put them out of service.
The station masters were quick to say that the problem would be sorted out soon and that the machines will work again.
Asked about the time being taken to get the machines repaired, they said that maintaining the machines comes under the purview of the Centre For Railway Information Systems.
A study on the usage of the automated vending machines at the other stations, where these machines are in working order, revealed that most of the passengers were unaware on how to use them.
The SCR officials claimed that an awareness drive was launched to educate regular passengers on how to use the machines. The officials further said that pamphlets were being distributed among the passengers as part of the drive.
Going by the inability of the passengers to use the machines, the awareness drive can be termed a failure.