Queue Management cum Token System introduced by the South Eastern Railways at Ranchi Railway Station for reservation of tickets on September 18 proved to be a failure on its very first day. After working for around four hours, the system collapsed. The token dispenser machine was further unable to dispense tokens due to some technical problem.
“The machine started functioning very smoothly and worked well till 11:45 after which the machine stopped working due to some technical problem” said a railway official, present at the spot. When asked about when it will come into action again, he just passed a smile.
The token dispenser machine was inaugurated at Ranchi Railway Station on September 17 by Ranchi Division DRM Gajanan Mallya. It dispenses tokens of different categories on pressing digits (1, 2, 3 and 4) eg: 1 is for General reservation, 2 is for all types of Cancellation and Modification, 3 is for Tatkal reservation and 4 is for Privileged services.
The token dispenser machine is accompanied by an instruction board, giving the beneficiaries the detail information about how to use it. A big digital display board is placed in the center of the room which is visible from every corner of the room, displaying the token number and the counter numbers, at which it will be entertained, helping the people to go to their respective counters without creating a mess. New set of chairs are also installed for the public, who first used to stand, waiting for their turn.
When asked from the people about their experience of this whole new system, it was a thumbs down expression from them. According to them this system was only beneficial for the staff, which would be able to hide their laziness through it.
“The token system can only be successful if token vending machine is handled by the railway authority members instead of the public. The number of ticket counters should also increase,” said Mukesh Singh, who was there to get a reservation ticket.
Sandeep Nigam, another passenger said, “Manual system is much better than this new token system, it will just killing the time of the people.” He also gave stress on increasing the number of counters in use and speeding the whole process.
Can brokers be stopped through the new systemIJ Many passengers replied in the same voice “no system can stop brokers.” Till the time of filing of this report, the token system was shut down and the manual system of reserving ticket was back with long queues.