Railway UTS (Unreserved Ticketing System) Project

Overview

Of the more than 25 million passengers who travel daily on the Indian Railways, 53% are suburban passengers. Another 32% travel unreserved in the "general" class. The computerised Unreserved Ticketing System (UTS) of the Indian Railways issues the tickets for these 21 million journeys a day.

Ticket Types

Most suburban journeys are covered by Monthly Season Tickets (MST). The remaining suburban tickets, and all non-suburban unreserved tickets, are single-use Journey Tickets.

UTS Implementation Modes

The Indian Railways sells MST and Journey Tickets through the following modes:

  • Thin client-based Unreserved Ticketing System terminals, which can work offline

  • Dumb terminal-based Unreserved Ticketing System, a server-based system that requires a network connection to operate

  • Automatic Ticket Vending Machines (ATVM), which are passenger-operated kiosks that accept contactless smart cards

  • Thin client-based Smart Card Recharge terminals, which dispense and recharge ATVM smart cards in addition to selling UTS tickets

  • Dumb terminal-based Jan Sadharan Ticket Booking Seva (JTBS) counters, which entrepreneurs run outside Railways premises

Revenue and Economics

The 21 million unreserved journeys a day earn a daily revenue of ₹17 crores. However, the average revenue per ticket is only ₹8.08, and the average revenue per suburban ticket is even lower, at ₹4.40.

It is therefore vital that:

  • The cost of dispensing each ticket is kept as low as possible

  • The time taken per transaction is kept to a minimum

Faster transactions reduce the cost per ticket and also improve the passenger experience. Passengers often choose bus journeys because bus tickets are easier to buy.

Passengers need multiple outlets to buy tickets easily. Today, the Railways sells tickets through UTS counters, ATVMs and JTBS counters.

Thinvent's Role

Thinvent works closely with the UTS team at CRIS to develop new technologies for unreserved ticket sales. Our constant endeavour is to reduce transaction time, cost and fraud, while improving the overall passenger experience.