NEW DELHI: The Railway Ministry has decided to provide employment to the jobless youth at some 2300 small railway stations as agents to sell the unreserved tickets through computers.
Following a trial at some railway stations on the Southern Railways, the Railway Board issued a directive to all zonal general managers on May 14 to create the necessary infrastructure for the purpose at what is known as "halts" in the railway parlance to replace the present system of the staff selling the cardboard tickets.
Installation of computers, a dependable power supply and 24-hour Internet facility are to be provided at all these small stations before putting the new unreserved ticketing system (UTS) in operation which is cheaper than the present deployment of the the regular staff.
The youths to be engaged for the purpose will print the ticket and stamp it with date of journey, destination station, distance, etc. They Railways will provide the ticket rolls for the purpose. They will be called agents, who will work under the control of the commercial supervisors of the nearby railway stations.
