Webel eyes railway contract for automated ticketing project

The West Bengal Electronics Industry Development Corporation Ltd (Webel) is looking at an Indian Railways contract for the supply of about 40,000 automated ticket vending machines (ATVMs) in a project that is slated to be initiated by the end of the year.

These ATVMs were devised by Webel through home-grown technological tests over three years of testing and experimentation, said Shyamal Dasgupta, executive director, Webel.

“ATVMs would function like automated teller machines (ATMs) for the Indian Railways. Passengers will be able to buy tickets, based on their demands, without the hassle of standing in line on the spot when these ATVMs are in place,” said Dasgupta.

The project will take about two years to implement-over this period, about 20,000 ATVMs would be installed on metro and train stations, according to Dasgupta.

This is not the first large-scale Indian Railways project that Webel is looking to acquire. Earlier, Webel was slated to acquire the contract for providing the Kolkata Metro with Smart Card.

The contract was worth in excess of Rs 41 crore.

Till last year, Kolkata Metro was mulling the replacement of paper tickets with smart cards and smart tokens, a system expected to be in place before the new stretch was thrown open to travellers.

Trouble with the contract first came to the fore when the smart gates needed upgrading, repair and maintenance. After the Lok Sabha elections in 2009, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief Mamata Banerjee came to Rail Bhawan in New Delhi.

The the project was delayed and Webel lost the contract.