Digital drive soon to encourage passengers to make QR code-based payments for railway tickets

The Mysuru Division of the South Western Railway will launch a digital drive to encourage the public to make QR code-based payments for the purchase of general class and unreserved tickets across 81 stations under its jurisdiction.

The Mysuru Division of the South Western Railway will launch a digital drive to encourage the public to make QR code-based payments for the purchase of general class and unreserved tickets across 81 stations under its jurisdiction.

The drive, to be launched in due course, will be held on a specific day or days of the week based on passenger footfall and will encourage the commuting public to switch from cash to digital payment mode.

Girish Dharmaraj Kalagonda, Divisional Commercial Manager of Mysuru Division, told The Hindu, that the cutting edge QR-code-based ticketing system is available at 94 Unreserved Ticketing System (UTS) counters across 81 divisions and by leveraging the QR code system, passengers can make payments effortlessly using their mobile wallets or UPI-enabled bank accounts.

‘’The QR code-based payment system was introduced in Mysuru division in August this year and has reduced the hassles faced by passengers over payment of exact denomination, the delays caused due to recovery of change at the counter all of which otherwise adds to the transaction time in purchase of tickets leading to lengthy queues’’.

He said the South Western Railway has a higher usage compared to most other railway divisions across the country and it fell behind only South Central Railway headquartered at Secunderabad and East Coast Railway with its headquarters in Bhubaneshwar.  

The drive will entail establishing special ‘May I Help You’ counters manned by railway staff near ticket booking counters and the passengers will be encouraged to make digital payments. The authorities plan to apprise the passengers of how making digital payments will help minimise queues.

Within the SWR, Mysuru Division, the QR code-based payment system was on the rise and it made up for 13.85% of the total transaction registered on Saturday. While 21,977 tickets were sold across Mysuru Division on Saturday, QR Code-based payments were made for 3,044 tickets. The percentage of QR code-based payment hovers around 6 to 8% on week days and the railways want to increase this through the launch of the digital drive, said Mr. Kalagonda.