Railway’s digital push robs passengers of their right to change date of journey

The railways’ decision to push digital transactions at ticket counters as part of phasing out the physical transactions raised concerns among a section of employees and the general public. Railways first introduced the experiment in the parcel counters, where the digital push was a success with the majority of the clients easily switching to the digital payment system.

However, the digital push in general and the reservation counters have created some confusion and technical issues. According to a senior railway officer, the passengers who purchase tickets from the passenger reservation system (PRS) by paying physical cash have the provision to change the date of the journey prior to 48 hours before the journey to another convenient date by paying an extra ₹20 per sleeper ticket. 

After the introduction of the digital payment system, there is no provision for changing the date of the journey by paying the extra charge fixed for different categories of classes. Instead, the passenger will have to cancel the ticket by paying an extra ₹120 per ticket (sleeper class) and book the ticket afresh on another date. In this system, the refund of the cancelled ticket will be processed and credited to the account of the passenger later, necessitating the passenger to carry more cash to book the ticket afresh. . 

In the case of the physical cash transaction system, if the ticket is cancelled, the refund will be given on the spot, and the passenger will have to carry only the cancellation charge in hand for booking another ticket in case the decision to change the journey was taken after the mandatory 48-hour window. Those passengers who know the system still prefer to book the tickets in advance by paying cash. The new generation of passengers who don’t know the facility often choose to pay digital money, said the officer. 

Similarly, the railways’ decision to discourage the physical cash transaction at general ticket counters often creates friction between a section of passengers, who still rely on physical cash for daily transactions, and ticket booking staff. Close to 10% of the passengers who procure tickets from the unreserved ticketing system (UTS) are still using physical cash for transactions. Moreover, it’s the fundamental right of passengers to choose a payment system convenient for them, as long as physical cash is in the economy for transactions.

However, the railway officials clarified that the decision to promote digital transactions at ticket counters and onboard the train was taken by the Railway Board. This doesn’t mean that the general public would be denied their option for physical cash transactions at ticket counters if they prefer. If there were any shortcomings in the digital transactions, those could be fixed later, said the officials. On average, around 1.1 lakh general tickets are issued in the Thiruvananthapuram division alone.