The Railways is mulling appointing Station Ticket Booking Sewaks (STBS) (booking clerks) in ‘E’ category railway stations, which have an earning of less than Rs 60 lakh per year, to issue tickets to passengers.
As booking clerks are not posted at these stations, it is the station mangers (SM) and assistant station managers (ASM) who currently issue tickets to passengers.
If the Sewaks are appointed, the SMs and ASMs would be able to concentrate more on train operations.
The one-year pilot project will be launched in ‘E’ category stations in important cities across the country for issuing unreserved tickets through computerised Unreserved Ticketing System (UTS) for 24 hours a day. The stations should have power and connectivity facilities. The service of the booking clerks will be initiated if the appointment of the Jan Sadharan Ticket Booking Sewaks (JTBS) at these areas fail to get respondents.
Hence it is preferable that the applicant should be a resident of the locality where the station is located.
“The ‘E’ category stations generate a very low revenue and the JTBS operators are not likely to respond as it would not bring them much profit. Hence, chances are STBSs would be appointed as per the guidelines issued by the headquarters,” an official of the Southern Railway said. At one station, a STBS could install up to three counters for issuing the tickets, depending on the sale of tickets. Along with providing space, the Railways will bear the cost of hardware and software, including maintenance, electricity and implementing networks.
The Sewaks have to give a refundable security deposit of Rs 5,000 and a bank guarantee of Rs 20,000 to the Railway. The STBS operators will sell all types of non-concessional unreserved tickets issued through UTS, including platform tickets and season tickets.