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Railway e-ticketing

02 Mar 2021

  • Station masters oppose 100% automation

  Railway station masters are opposing the proposed complete automation of the ticketing system, claiming it is not accessible to the whole range of passengers who use trains as public transport, The Morning learnt. “For short distances, we cannot issue the e-ticket, so for that we would prefer to use the traditional ticket system. Such a hybrid system is used even with the banking sector, where different options are offered to customers based on their knowledge and social status. That sector continues to employ traditional methods,” said Sri Lanka Station Masters' Union (SLSMU) President Sumedha Somaratne speaking to The Morning yesterday (01). According to Somaratne, the transport sector too should adopt the latest techniques, while having space for traditional methods. Somaratne further said that the traditional ticket should be printed within Sri Lanka. “We have issues with the tickets which are printed outside of the country,” said Somaratne. According to him, the station masters had an issue with the train tickets that were printed in Japan. “The surface of that ticket was too shiny, and our old date press machine was not supporting it.” Somaratne further claimed that the station masters were experiencing difficulties when using these tickets, and that the Government should ask for their views before printing tickets outside of the country. “Why can’t we print this ticket through a local company?” he queried. Meanwhile, the SLSMU also raised their concerns regarding the lack of a proper communication system. “We don’t have a proper communication system where we would be able to communicate with our staff.” Somaratne added that station masters tend to communicate using their mobile phones and landlines when there is a fault in the railway system. “We also don’t have a way to communicate with passengers when there is a fault in the railway,” he noted. Speaking to The Morning, Railways General Manager M.J.D. Fernando also agreed with the SLSMU and said that a combined system is needed. “A 100% e-ticket system will not be an option for now since our elder generation would take time to adapt to this new system,” said Fernando.  When queried about printing train tickets overseas, he said: “Previously we printed our tickets from the Netherlands, and then from Japan, since we haven’t had any other option. We need 60 million train tickets per year, and we have received 30 million from Japan already.” However, according to Fernando, the Sri Lanka Railways Department has made a request from the Ministry of Industries and Commerce to print train tickets locally, where they hope to have a report in this regard, within six months. “I don’t think that we have to show the samples to the station masters or to any other party. We are printing our tickets from our only available option, and we don’t have any alternatives,” he further added. Regarding a proper internal communication system, Fernando said that it is already under a pilot project and would be established within a few months, but that this would not include passenger communication.


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