JOINT PROCEDURE ORDER FOR ISSUING OF UTS TICKETS BY HALT CONTRACTORS

JOINT PROCEDURE ORDER FOR ISSUING OF UTS TICKETS BY HALT CONTRACTORS

Replacement of printed card tickets (PCTs) with UTS tickets for use at halts

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS
(RAILWAY BOARD)

No. 2017/TG-1 /I0/UTS/PCTs

New Delhi, 14.05.2019

The Principal Chief Commercial Managers,
All Zonal Railways.

(Commercial Circular no. 25 of 2019)

Sub: Replacement of printed card tickets (PCTs) with UTS tickets for use at halts.

Ref: (i) This office letter no. 2018/RS/PTG & STNY/AP/PP/IR dated 23.03.2018. (ii) This office letters of even no. dt. 28.03.2018, 05.04.2018,23.08.2018 & 06.11.2018.

Due to closure/merger of Printing Press, there has been a shortage of PCTs, in view of which a pilot was launched on Southern & South Western Railways to replace PCTs with UTS tickets at Halt stations. In due course, the pilot (operational up to 30.11.2018) was extended to all Zonal Railways. The duration of the pilot project was later extended for another six months (up to 31.05.2019).

2. Based on feedback of the pilot furnished by Zonal Railways, it has been decided to launch a full-fledged scheme for issue of UTS tickets for Halt stations by getting the tickets printed through UTS terminals provided at the serving stations identified by Zonal Railways. The scheme shall be operational on all Zonal Railways till further orders.

2.1 A JPO of the scheme has also been finalised, a copy of which is enclosed herewith,

3. Necessary instructions may be issued to ail concerned accordingly.

4. This issues with the concurrence of Finance and Accounts Directorates of the Ministry of Railways.

sd/-
(Shelly Srivastava)
Director,
Passenger Marketing
Railway Board

JOINT PROCEDURE ORDER FOR ISSUING OF UTS TICKETS BY HALT CONTRACTORS

1. INTRODUCTION

It has been decided that wherever issuing of card tickets is being stopped, serving station of Halt station will issue unreserved tickets to Halt contractor through Unreserved Ticketing System (UTS) of Indian Railways.

2. PREPARATION OF INDENTS

(a) Tickets should be obtained by Halt Contractor on indent Form from the serving station notified by the railway administration for this task. The indents should be prepared in triplicate separately for season tickets and normal UTS tickets. Two of the copies should be retained at the station, one for Station and one for onward submission to Traffic Accounts.
(b) Indents should be prepared on the basis of the estimate of tickets. All indents should be consecutively numbered and signed by Halt contractor. It should be seen that the columns of requisitions are legibly and correctly filled in before the indent is handed over at the station.
(c) In preparing indents for tickets it should be seen that the names and code initials of the stations, distance, route, description, the fares for adults and children, etc. are correctly entered on the indent.
(d) Zonal Railway will nominate the UTS counter/depot station and prescribe the timings of issue of tickets from the UTS counter to halt contractors.

3. OPERATION

(i) Depot/Serving Station:
(a) Railways should nominate serving/depot stations keeping in view workload and requirement of ticketing at halt stations as well as that at serving station vis-a-vis availability of manpower at serving station. Serving/depot station should not be manned by STBA and should have UTS.
(b) Manpower can be reworked as per the workload at the serving/depot station and requirement of the halt station. Efforts should be made to utilise the existing staff in all shifts to the maximum extent feasible. However, if deemed necessary, additional manpower can be arranged from other locations where it is surplus.
(c) At smaller depot stations, same counter may be nominated for printing of tickets for Halt Station, At major depot stations, dedicated counter may be nominated for printing of ticket for halt station. Zonal Railway may work out the arrangement as per local requirements while ensuring that no inconvenience is caused to travelling passengers from serving/depot stations.
(d) If the serving station is manned by STBA, the serving/depot stations for the halt may be changed OR one station in a section may be nominated to cater to a “cluster” of halt stations keeping in view the factors mentioned above.

(ii) Issue of ticket by serving/depot station;
(a) Separate ticket rolls should be used for printing of halt tickets,
(b) Tickets for Halt Stations will be issued for routes defined in the system only. Zonal Railway may define routes for all O-D pairs in the system.
(c) Each time when booking clerk changes the roll, while printing of ticket for halt station, system should ask for supervisory intervention.
(d) Calculation of commission should be system computed.
(e) During the ticket printing process whenever tickets are made non-issued (NI) by the depot station, the stock continuity will break as non-issue transaction is also printed on ticket stationery. However, depot stations should ensure that slash number is matched with pre-printed stock number.

(iii) Issue of tickets by Halt stations:
a. The halt agent shall procure the tickets well in advance from the depot station and keep in his safe custody as in case of PCTs.
b. While issuing tickets to the passenger, he shall put the date of issue on the ticket by Rubber stamp and time of issue in the ticket preferably by rubber stamp.
c. No alterations/overwriting by the halt agent on the halt ticket should be permitted. The manual entries made by the halt agent on the ticket should be with indelible ink only.
d. Halt agent shall not be permitted to make the ticket ‘Non-issued’. In case the ticket has to be made NI, the procedure will be similar to that of UTS i.e. the Halt contractor will approach the serving/depot station.

4. CHECKS

(a) All the important statements and station returns are to be sent to Traffic Accounts periodically for post check.
(b) Ticket checking staff should be made well aware of the scheme so that passenger inconvenience does not arise.
(c) Time of issue of ticket is stamped to avoid reissue/reusc by halt agents/passengers.
(d) Booking Zone of Halt stations would be determined as per the existing Halt policy.
Zonal Railways are, however, free to take their decision to ensure that Halt agents issue tickets in maximum number of cases so that ticketless travel is minimised.
(e) Decision regarding permission for issue of MSTs/QSTs by Halt contractors from Halt stations may be taken by Zonal Railways at their level in consultation with their Associate Finance, A provision is already available in the application to issue all types of season tickets. However, if a Zonal Railway desires to disable any type of ticket, the provision is also available in the system.

5. EXISTING PROVISION FOR PRINTING OF UTS TICKETS FOR HALT STATIONS

i. UTS has provision for issuance of following tickets; –
a. Non-concessional suburban & non-suburban journey ticket for Adult & Child
b. Concessional ticket to Senior Citizen
c. Non-concessional Season ticket (MST/QST/HST/YST)
d. Season I-Card

ii. In non-suburban journey Ticket, Journey Date, Ticket Printing Date & Time, Random Number (as it is dependent on journey date) is not printed on ticket. However, string for “Commence Journey within 3 Hrs or departure of first train” is printed for distance upto 200KM. In addition to this, ‘Plait’ is printed on top along with ticket header and string for “Valid only with date stamp only” is printed on the space used in UTS ticket for printing of ticket printing date & time.

iii. In suburban journey Ticket, Journey Date, Ticket Printing Date & Time, Random Number (as it is dependent on journey date) is not printed on ticket. However, string for “Commence Journey within 1 Hr” is printed to commence journey within time limit permissible in suburban section. In addition to this, ‘Halt’ is printed on top along with ticket header and string for “Valid only with date stamp only” is printed on the space used in UTS ticket for printing of ticket printing date & time.

iv. In season ticket, ID number, name, age, gender, validity start date, validity end date, Ticket Printing Date & Time, Random Number (as it is dependent on journey date) is not printed on ticket. In addition to this, ‘Halt’ is printed on top along with ticket header and string for “Valid only with date stamp only” is printed on the space used in UTS ticket for printing of ticket printing date & time. This information should be written by Halt Agent at the time of issuing season ticket to the passenger.

v. In Season 1-card, name, age, gender, address, pin code of passenger is not printed on I-card issued for halt station. In addition to this, ‘Halt’ is printed on top along with ticket header and string for “Valid only with date stamp only” is printed on the space used in UTS ticket for printing of ticket printing date & time. This information should be written by Halt Agent at the time of issuing I-card to the passenger.

vi. A unique series number is printed on UTS ticket printed for halt station. Unique series number is generated on the basis of O-D pair, route,
‘ Adult/Child/Senior Citizen, Class Code, Train Type and Ticket Type.

vii. Provision is available for non-issue and special cancellation (in same session/terminal) for halt ticket printed through depot station.

6. The internal check mechanism may be strengthened by Commercial and Accounts Department to rule out chances of misuse/leakage of revenue on account of such tickets. Accounts Department may ensure checks laid down in Chapter XXI of Indian Railway code for Accounts Department Pari II under Para 2102 (3) detailing the check of indents, Para 2103 (2), Para 2104 (1 and 2) regarding Check of collected tickets, Para 2108 regarding check of cancelled and non-issued tickets and Pam 2119 for check of passenger classification.

Source: http://www.indianrailways.gov.in