On Monday, the historical Kacheguda Railway Station has become the first ever train station in the South Central Railway to have gone fully digital in terms of payments.
It has set the stage for 10 more stations to become digital payments enabled in the next stage of the ‘Digi-Pay Station’ campaign launched by the SCR.
In the words of a vendor H.S.Sudhindra, the customers can use a card even to buy a chocolate on the go. As if to prove a point, General Manager of SCR Vinod Kumar Yadav who was here to launch the Digi-Pay Station, bought a water bottle from a vendor by swiping his card.
Internet connectivity
All the 29 vendors and licensees in the station have received the point of sale (PoS) terminals through a tie-up with the Andhra Bank, and provision of high speed internet connectivity across the station will ensure feasibility for cashless transactions, the Railway authorities informed.
Apart from the vendors, other outsourced services, including parking and catering, will accept plastic money, so will the cloak room, retiring room, parcel counter, and AC waiting hall services and ticketing counter. Also installed are the payment options through mobile wallet services. Mr.Yadav said they struck upon the idea when the SCR was going through the process of making the reservation offices digital payment compliant. Talks were held with the licensees and vendors and with the Andhra Bank and the response was positive.
Transaction charges
After 10 more high profile stations in the next phase, the ‘Digi-Pay Station’ campaign will be taken to as many stations as possible in the subsequent stages, he said.
However, the vendors are not too happy about the initiative. They will have to pay transaction charges which start at a minimum of 75 paise and go up to ₹20 per transaction. “Besides, we will have to shell out ₹500 to ₹1000 as monthly rent for the PoS terminals. Still, we do not know how many customers would opt for card payments. We have installed the machines because the officials wanted us to,” says a vendor.
