Attention, WL & RAC Ticket Holders: This New Railway Device Could Give You Confirmed Berths!

Always on the waiting or reservation-against-cancellation (RAC) list? Well, then here’s some good news for you!

The Indian Railways will soon give a new tablet device to Travelling Ticket Examiners (TTEs) across its network.

What will these tablets do?

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According to a Financial Express report, these tablets, called the ‘Hand-Held Terminals (HHTs),’ will help TTEs update Indian Railways about the real-time occupancy status of a running train, thereby increasing the chances of confirmation of waitlisted and RAC tickets.

When will it be put to use?

The current plan is to introduce these devices in the premier Shatabdi and Rajdhani Express trains.

“We are going to distribute around 550 HHTs across the Indian Railways network and based on the response, the service will be extended to all trains with reserved coaches,” a Railway Ministry official told Financial Express Online.

How will it work?

Once a train leaves its originating destination, the ticket examiner or TC will check the tickets. When he/she finds a reserved berth or seat that is vacant, he will update the status on his HHT device.

This device will then, in turn, send this real-time information to the Passenger Reservation System (PRS) through GPRS.

And so, the vacant berth will be allotted to waitlisted passengers on subsequent stations.

This will ensure that vacant seats are better utilised if a passenger fails to board the train or cancel his/her ticket before the preparation of the chart.

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Key features of the device include:

• It can download source charts, current booking lists and charts of remote locations on the train through GPRS. It can also download the list of after-charting cancelled passengers at an interval of every hour from departure time.
• The device can also mark attendance of passengers in any coach and also allows for a status upgrade like class upgrade/downgrade and an alternate berth allotment.

The Railway Ministry official further mentioned that HHTs would also replace paper charts with e-charts and enable computerisation of onboard passenger interface operations.

Once in use, future provisions could also include Excess Fare Ticket (EFT) and Point of Sale (POS)/digital means of collection of fare on the device.

(Edited by Shruti Singhal)

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