Railway Minister Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu on Saturday declared Vijayawada, Tirupati, Kakinada Town and Guntur railway stations as 100% Digital Payment Enabled (DigiPAY) stations. He launched the services online from the Hi-Tech City railway station in Hyderabad.
The launch of DigiPAY stations would encourage cashless transactions, the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Passengers could make transactions in the four stations through Point of Sale (PoS) machines arranged at several points, Mr. Suresh Prabhu said.
Highest pilgrim traffic
Railway authorities said the Tirupati railway station handled the largest flow of pilgrim traffic anywhere in the Indian Railways. As many as 78,000 passenger footfalls were recorded in the station every day generating ₹73.43 lakh.
The Vijayawada station, the gateway to AP capital Amaravati, was one of the busiest railway stations and hub for railway services. About 97,166 passengers travel from Vijayawada a day and the station was earning ₹68.11 lakh per day.
Located in the Konaseema area, the Kakinada Town station was serving the population of coastal area and meeting the industrial and economic needs. The station was getting ₹8.42 lakh revenue per day by handling 7,118 passengers.
The Guntur station would be a vital link to the sub-urban commuter corridor of Vijayawada-Guntur-Tenali. The station was contributing ₹7.78 lakh revenue per day to the railways by handling 44,000 passengers a day.
Vijayawada Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) Ashok Kumar said DigiPay services were provided at the general ticket booking counters, reservation complex, water vending machines, cloak rooms, coffee, tea stalls, ATMs, parking, parcel office, book stalls, fruit juice stalls, toilets and other points in the station premises.
Officials visit stalls
Mr. Ashok Kumar along with Additional DRM K. Venugopala Rao, senior divisional commercial manager Shifali Kumar, senior divisional security commissioner S.R. Gandhi, special officer S. Satyanarayana Reddy and other staff visited the stalls and made transactions through the PoS machines on the platforms.
