Cash-coin TVMs back at Mumbai railway stations

These machines have been installed at a cost of R7.5 lakh each. File pic

This will come as relief to the 2.66 lakh people who have to stand in serpentine queues on the Mumbai suburban rail network for tickets. The blue and silver Cash/Coin Ticket Vending Machines (COTVMs) are back in action at select railway stations on the Western and Central Railway.

There are 76 lakh people using both CR and WR and almost 35 per cent of them buy daily tickets. For the past several months, long queues at rail ticket counters have become a common sight as 25 per cent of ATVMs have been shut owing to technical issues, while COTVMs were not operational because of a fraud last year. In August 2016, RPF found crooks breaking into the machines after exploiting the software, resulting in crores of rupees being stolen.

On March 28, mid-day reported about the ATVM problems in the story "Commuters get smart, but ATVMs slow them down'. "At present all our COTVMs are functioning. We will be adding more eventually," said Narendra Patil, Chief PRO, CR.

There are 46 COTVMs on the main and harbour lines of CR, and 32 COTVMs on WR. "At present 29 of these COTVMs are working," said Mukul Jain, Divisional Railway Manager (Mumbai), Western Railway.

These machines accept paper money, coins and smart cards. Sources said they have made changes to these machines to ensure fake and banned notes aren't accepted. Moreover, they have restricted the use of smart cards to 10 times per card each day. This change has been made as the rail authorities found people were using the smart card multiple times and over-availing the 5 per cent discount.