Railways to have contactless ticketing; tickets to be QR code-enabled, scanned on handheld devices

Indian Railways has started introducing contactless ticketing system with QR code-enabled tickets, which will be scanned on handheld devices and mobile phones at the stations and on the trains.

“We have introduced a QR code system, which will be given on tickets. If one buys online, the code will be provided on the ticket. Even on window tickets, where one gets a physical ticket, a text message will be sent to the passenger’s mobile phone, which will have a link, and the QR code will be displayed when the link is touched", Railway Board Chairman V K Yadav told reporters here.

A pilot project of contactless ticket-checking with an airport-like check-in for all passengers entering the station has been introduced at Prayagraj Junction of North Central Railway.

"The TTE at the stations or on the trains, either with their hand-held equipment or through their mobile phones which will have a QR application, will be able to scan the code and immediately capture the details of the passengers. In this system, the ticket examiner needs not touch the ticket in hand and it will be completely contactless,” he said.

Though 80 % of railway travellers book ticket online, the national transporter is not planning to go completely paperless as of now, but will encourage the public to use online tickets, he said.

Once a passenger enters the station premises, the QR code of his ticket is scanned through a mobile application and this gets updated in the software’s database. The time of scanning the QR code also gets updated in the application.

The station will have check-in counters on the line of the airport to minimise the exposure of the checking staff to the passengers. The QR code is scanned and the thermal screening of passengers initiated at these counters, the official said.

Even onboard ticket-checking staff also gets information on passengers simultaneously including a coach-wise display with the number of berths, unbooked berths and the number of the boarding passes.