Indian Railways’ one of the most ambitious projects have been the concept of Integrated Ticketing Platform, wherein only one ticket is enough for anyone to travel in a train, metro, bus, auto or a taxi.
Now, this project will be finally started, and Mumbai has been chosen to be the first city to experience this, under the pilot project.
Passengers will, no doubt, get extremely benefitted by this initiative. But the question is, how will this get implemented?
India’s 1st Integrated Ticketing Platform in Mumbai
As per reports coming in, Mumbai has been chosen to be the 1st Indian city to test and run integrated ticketing platform.
Within Mumbai, this would be a project managed by Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), and they will now integrate all public transports: BEST buses, local trains, metros, black-and-yellow taxis and auto rickshaws within this system.
Right now, officials from Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation (MRVC) and Central and Western Railway officials are devising strategies to make it work in the city.
In fact, The Brihamumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST), which spearheads bus services in Mumbai and Mumbai Metro One Private Limited (MMOPL), which manages the Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar Metro have agreed to work together, and implement the integrated system.
Prabhat Sahai, chairman and MD, MRVC said, “MRVC will present the railways’ perspective to the MMRDA, which is the primary organisation for the integrated ticketing system,”
As per reports coming in, the whole exercise has been divided into two stages:
Stage 1: A special software will be integrated with the existing ticketing system at railway stations and metro
Stage 2: Special entry and exit gates would be installed for making the integrated system of ticketing
According to insider information, MMRDA will float a tender for executing single ticketing platform in October. Based on the results, the same would be implemented pan-India.
IRCTC To Take Over Catering In All Trains
Meanwhile, after facing flak from passengers and the Govt. due to substandard food being delivered in trains, IRCTC has decided to take over catering in all trains.
This means that from now on, whether it is pantry car food or food prepared outside and then delivered in trains, IRCTC would be responsible for all.
According to a CAG report, food delivered inside trains is not fit for human consumption, and recently, a lizard was found in veg biryani, served inside the train.
After these incidences, Indian Railways had to take some concrete action, and IRCTC taking over catering services is seen as a major step towards this.
While passengers of Rajdhani and Shatabdi Express will have the option of selecting catering, as the price of food is included in the ticket, passengers of other trains will be now served food prepared and delivered by IRCTC.
As per railway board member (traffic) Mohd Jamshed, a special team will be created to audit the food delivered, and to ensure that quality guidelines are maintained.
He said, “We have hired two reputed companies to do the third party audits at food stalls and pantry cars.”
In 2010, Indian Rail had allocated the responsibility of catering to Zonal Railways, who in turn outsourced to various vendors.