SCR Introduces Advanced Handheld Terminals In 16 Trains

Taking forward the Digital India Mission, the South Central Railway has introduced Hand Held Terminals (HHTs) with advanced features for its ticket-checking staff, dispensing with the need for carrying physical charts and making manual entries.

The HHTs will enable the travelling ticket-checking staff to verify the status of reserved passengers in the entire train, know the live status of vacant berths, and allot the vacant berths between identified destinations to passengers in a wholly transparent manner.

The HHTs were introduced in the Indian Railways in the Rajdhani & Shatabdi Express trains in 2019, and were consequently implemented on the South Central Railway in one train - the Secunderabad-Pune-Secunderabad Shatabdi Express.

Now, in addition to the above, 16 select trains which originate/terminate in the SCR Zone have been bought under this initiative. The travelling ticket-checking staff will be working with the latest HHTs in these sixteen trains.

These trains include three pairs of Duronto Expresses operating on the Secunderabad - Nizamuddin, Secunderabad - Visakhpatnam and Secunderabad - Lokamanya Tilak Terminus routes, and five pairs of superfast trains - Satavahana Express, Pinakini Express, Ratnachal Express, Sirpur Kagaznagar Express and Vijayawada Intercity express.

The introduction of HHTs to enable checking and monitoring the vacancy status aboard the train live is expected to bring in a revolutionary change in the standards of customer service. The Ticket Checking staff (TCs) can now easily mark the occupation of berths, and any vacancies will immediately come to the notice of the TCs enabling them to allot the same to passengers who need them on the train. Passengers in stations enroute will also get real-time information about vacant berths, and berths can be allotted to them even when the train is already running.

An SCR official also said the information about cancellation done after the preparation of the charts would be sent on an hourly basis to the HHTs, thereby easily detecting fraudulent travel.