New Delhi: Western Railways has introduced biometric token machine for queue management in general coaches. Officials said this would aid in curbing overcrowding and queue jumping.

Officials said that passengers with general class ticket face difficulties in boarding coaches as everyone rushes to grab a seat. They added that multiple instances of seat cornering in general coaches were reported. Despite the Railway Protection Force (RPF) presence, queues were breached.

To solve the problem of overcrowding, queue jumping and seat cornering, the Western Railways has adopted the technology of issuing biometric tokens.

The passengers have to give their biometric impression and take a numbered token before boarding the train. The passengers will be allowed to enter the coach according to the token number.

“This system will provide relief to the general class passengers as they will be able to board the train without any hassle. It will also act as a deterrent for criminals since fingerprints are recorded,” a railway official said.

At present, the machines are used for for Amaravati Express, Jaipur Superfast Express, Karnavati Express, Gujarat Mail and Golden Temple Mail at Mumbai Central and Pashchim Express, Avadh Express, Amaravati Express, and Maharahstra Sampark Kranti at Bandra Terminus.

An advanced version of this machine will soon be used to capture photographs of the passengers. This will remove the burden of RPF from video graphing passengers boarding general coaches, officials said.