Mumbai: BMC to use QR codes at railway stations for smoother operations

While the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC and Maharashtra government are finalising details of Quick Response QR codes for essential workers travelling by Mumbai suburban local trains railway officials said that they have also moved a proposal to integrate them with the existing QR code system of ticketing This will ensure seamless transport and faster entryexit into stationsHowever as authorities work out details of the resumed services health service workers are upset that the trains are halting at only fast stations and want them to stop where public hospitals are locatedA security personnel takes the temperature of a commuter at Churchgate station PicBipin KokateQR codes on railways were first introduced by Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu in March 2016 as per the 201617 rail budget commitment This was done to avoid cases of misuse of unreserved tickets by unscrupulous elements who used to get the tickets printed illegally This was affecting the railways revenue The bar coding feature includes details like ticket number stock number fare source station destination station number of adults number of children train type class code and date of journey that are printed in the form of an encrypted QR code Right now the process is on to update the database of all required essential category employees which is being done by Mumbai police Once the database is updated the government employee ID cards will be in sync with the QR codes The QR based Epasses will also bear colour coding to enable swifter ticket checking so that there are minimal delays while entering and exiting the station The passes could be verified on a normal smart phone by guardsTCs at the entry gates a senior railway official saidA proposal has been moved with the railway board to integrate the Railways existing QR code system with this to expedite the processSync halts with hospitalsEssential medical workers expressed displeasure with the Railways choosing to halt suburban local trains at just fast stations The biggest hospital complexes and governmentmunicipal hospitals in Mumbai are at stations like Sion Parel Kandivli Chunabhatti and the trains do not halt there The trains are full of Mantralaya and BMC staff going to head offices when priority should be given to halts in sync with public hospitals and their staff which have been running 24x7 Ranjit Menon a senior medical professional saidWhile Sion has the Lokmanya Tilak Hospital Parel has multiple hospitals like KEM Tata Memorial Hospital Wadia and MGM while Kandivli has Shatabdi and Chunabhatti has Somaiya Hospital etcWith such a halt pattern with local trains one is again forced to take a feeder service from the station to the hospital either by buses or cabs leading to problems Jayashree Pagare a staff nurse at a government hospital said A railway spokesperson said that the halts have been kept minimal so that there is less crowd and social distancing is maintainedBankers demand train travelThe All India Bank Officers Confederation AIBOC the largest organisation of employees of supervisory cadre in banking on Wednesday shot off a letter to the Railway Ministry seeking travel permissions in local trains as they have been providing uninterrupted services During the lockdown the state government allowed its offices and other establishmentsoffices to function with 1015 staff while banks have been functioning with almost no relaxation Bank employees are being forced to commute on their own or have to hire cars incurring substantial expenditure AIBOC general secretary Soumya Datta said2016QR codes on railways were introduced by former min Suresh Prabhu in MarchMumbai local Day 3On the Western Railway about 3783 single day tickets were sold and 1355 season tickets were issued with 2351 extensions bringing in a revenue of R447234 on Wednesday On Central Railway the passenger count through the number of tickets issued was about 20000 passengers till 4pm and authorities said it could go upto 35000 by the end of the dayCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs and a complete guide from food to things to do and events across Mumbai Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates MidDay is now on Telegram Click here to join our channel middayinfomedialtd and stay updated with the latest news