Hyderabad: In order to ensure the safety of passengers and ease the rush during boarding, the South Central Railway (SCR) has launched Biometric Token Machine (BTM) services for the first time at Secunderabad railway station. The service was launched by Eswara Rao, Principal Chief Security Commissioner, SCR, and A.K Gupta, Divisional Railway Manager, Secunderabad Division along with other officials on Tuesday.
The Biometric Token Machine aims to ease the process of boarding of passengers into unreserved coaches by avoiding long queues and preventing brawls among passengers. The machine first records the information of each passenger such as their name, train number, PNR number, and destination station.
Following this, the passenger’s biometric information such as the fingerprint and photograph is captured. Once this information is acquired, the machine autogenerates a token with a serial number and the passenger must board the coach according to their assigned number. In addition, the data stored by the BTM will be useful in detecting crimes committed on trains and will act as a deterrence for miscreants.
This system will bring relief for passengers travelling in general class as they need not wait in a queue for several hours. Once the passenger receives the token they can reach the coach 15 minutes prior to departure and board the train without any hassle. The token machine system will also help minimize the manpower requirement of the Railway Protection Force to maintain queues for boarding.
Gajanan Mallya, General Manager, SCR appreciated the initiative and efforts of the security department and officials of SCR in the implementation of the BTM at a busy railway station like Secunderabad. He also opined that the system enables easy access to unreserved passengers for boarding into general class coaches and helps in avoiding congestion on platforms.
Another such BTM will be installed shortly at the Secunderabad Railway station informed the officials.
