New Delhi: To keep real-time monitoring of ticket checking staff in trains as well as in the field and get accurate data, Indian Railways has launched digital attendance system in some zones initially. There is a plan to launch it in some more zones soon.
This system will help passengers traveling in sleeper class and general class of mail and express trains to get rid of ticketless people, as TTEs (Travelling Ticket Examiners) will be present in the train during the journey and will properly check the tickets.
Speaking to ETV Bharat, a senior railway official of Northern Railway said, “This system will help passengers directly and indirectly and increase the efficiency of the railways. If a TTE goes to any coach of the train, then people without tickets always go away from the bogie, giving relief to passengers with confirmed seats.” This new system will allow easy monitoring of working hours and availability of ticket checking staff. The ministry said that the biometric sign-on and sign-off system for TTEs is an important step towards modernization of railway operations and increasing accountability, ensuring that attendance records are accurate and verifiable.
Officials said, “It provides effective monitoring of working hours, lobby operations and is integrated with hand held terminals (HHT) and duty roster for streamlined staff deployment.”
The first digital TTE lobby has become operational at Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay Junction of East Central Railway. This advanced system has been successfully implemented in one division of Northern Railway, Sonpur division of East Central Railway, Ratlam division of Western Railway, CSMT, Pune and Solapur of Central Railway, Malda division of Eastern Railway, Mysore division of South Western Railway, Bhopal of West Central Railway, Madurai, Palghat, Trichy of Southern Railway and Kota lobby of West Central Railway. North Central Railway, North Eastern Railway and North Western Railway zones have also implemented this new system in a phased manner in different divisions. However, Railway Ministry officials said that Jammu division of Northern Railway is going to implement this system very soon.
Biometric verification
The new system integrates biometric verification with the ticket examiner lobby system, allowing employees to authenticate themselves using an Aadhaar-enabled biometric device. Officials said that this ensures a tamper-proof and transparent attendance process that accurately records working hours and duty status in real time.
Reacting to the issue, Chief Office Superintendent Manoj Kumar Manchan told ETV Bharat, “This new system will increase the work efficiency of the employees as they will do biometric punch at the departure station and then at the terminating station, so they have to stay in the trains throughout the journey to perform their duty. In that case, TTEs will not be able to escape from their duty, which will obviously help the passengers.” Railway revenue will increase
National President of Indian Railway S&T Maintainers Union Naveen Kumar told ETV Bharat, “This move will help in maintaining punctuality of TTE staff. If the staff reaches the station on time and checks the tickets properly, it will increase the revenue of the railways through challaning of persons without tickets.”
