Getting a Tatkal ticket is frequently a significant challenge for train passengers. There are just two choices: make an online reservation or spend the night in line at a reservation center window to buy one offline. Only a small percentage of the large number of persons that show up at reservation centers late at night are able to obtain a confirmed ticket; the others are compelled to leave empty-handed. Indian Railways has started a new mechanism as a trial project to help those looking for Tatkal tickets. This technique will eventually be adopted throughout all reservation centers.
This project has been started by Indian Railways in the East Central Railway zone’s Sonpur Division. This new project is called “Queue Mitra.” This technique provides relief from the long-term inconvenience of standing in line—a issue that has existed for years—rather than just being a technical fix.
How the New System Works
With the use of a self-service, kiosk-based digital queue management system called “Queue Mitra,” travelers can create their own tokens without the assistance of railroad employees. Facial recognition and Aadhaar-based verification are used in the procedure. The passenger’s photo, the token number, the timestamp, and the final four digits of their Aadhaar number are all prominently displayed on each token. A digital display provides real-time queue status updates.
The kiosk uses Hindi-language audio-visual instructions to walk passengers through the procedure. The passenger’s Aadhaar information is scanned as soon as the camera records their face, and an AI-powered system quickly generates a token. Railway employees confirm customers’ identity by comparing their photos with their Aadhaar information thirty minutes prior to the Tatkal counter opening. Tatkal tickets are then given in compliance with the regulations.
Key Features of the New System
per Aadhaar number will only receive one token per day. The deployment of facial recognition technology will help to stop system abuse. Reservations for AC Tatkal tickets will open at 10:00 AM, and reservations for non-AC Tatkal tickets will open at 11:00 AM. There will be Hindi and English versions of the interface. The system is built to function even if there are problems with network connectivity. Railway employees are only permitted to call out token numbers sequentially; they are not allowed to change the queue’s order. The system’s generated local data will be kept for three months. The system will automatically send out an alert if a user uses the same Aadhaar and face data more than once in a five-day period.
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