This Article is From Feb 26, 2018

Railways Going Paperless, No Reservation Charts On Trains From March 1

In an attempt to go paperless, the Indian Railways is implementing a pilot project that would phase out the concept of pasting of reservation charts on railway bogies.

Railways Going Paperless, No Reservation Charts On Trains From March 1

Indian Railways will phase out the concept of pasting of reservation charts on railway bogies.

New Delhi: Come March 1, you will no longer see any reservation charts on the reserved coaches of the trains. In an attempt to go paperless, the Indian Railways is implementing a pilot project that would phase out the concept of pasting of reservation charts on railway bogies. The pilot project will initially be applied for six months. The ministry will decide on continuing it, depending on the success of this initiative. The physical and digital display of charts will, however, continue at the platforms, the Railway Ministry said.

The stations are classified into seven categories - A1, A, B, C, D, E and F, based on the income from the passengers and the project will first be implemented on all trains at A1, A and B category stations.
Last week, Rail Minister Piyush Goyal had posted on Twitter, "Indian Railways to discontinue pasting of reservation charts on the reserved coaches of all trains as a pilot project for 6 months starting from 1st March 2018. The move is intended towards promoting the initiative of going paperless."

Apart from the paperless factor, the move is being considered environment friendly as it would not just save paper, but also cut down cost. The cut down will save around 28 tonnes of charting paper, which is Rs 1.7 lakh a year, said an official release.

The inspiration behind this move comes from South Western Railways' Bengaluru Division (SBC), which implemented the same on all trains from Bengaluru City and Yeshwantpur stations in November 2016. Earlier, pasting of reservation charts on reserved coaches of all trains was also discontinued at New Delhi, Hazrat Nizamuddin, Mumbai Central, Chennai Central, Howrah and Sealdah stations.

The government, apart from pushing the paperless way of living, is also encouraging the digital agenda. The stress would be on getting e-tickets, sending reservation information through SMS, digital display at platforms. Alternatively, people can also dial139 for IVR assistance or approach the TT of the train.
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