Indian Railways: Railways has now ordered the closure of its remaining printing presses. Third party can be given contract to print tickets.
Railways Printing Press: In October 2017, the then Railway Minister Piyush Goyal had expressed the government’s intention to close all the printing presses controlled by the Railways. The government had said that it wanted to give the contract of printing press to a third party. After this, it was decided to close many printing presses and now it has been decided to close the remaining printing presses.
According to the Business Standard report, the Ministry of Railways, after several talks, had decided to shut down 9 out of 14 printing presses and kept the remaining 5 under its control. Now the order to close them too has been given by the Ministry of Railways.
In its order issued on Wednesday, the Railway Board said that it has been decided to close down the railway printing presses at Byculla Mumbai, Howrah, Shakurbasti-Delhi, Royapuram Chennai and Secunderabad. In the letter issued on June 4, 2019, it was also decided to close the printing press.
Third party will get tender
Now tenders will be taken out for this. After this, the contract will be given to the vendor to prepare the tickets and other material to be printed in these printing presses. Railway has taken this decision to promote digital. Railway has a special purpose behind this step. It has been said in the report that the Railways wants to focus only on the operation of trains. For this reason, it wants to reduce the load by giving the rest of the work on contract.
Most digital tickets are booked
​According to a railway official, most reserve tickets are currently booked through e-ticketing, 81 per cent. In March, 2.75 unreserved tickets were booked through the Unreserved Ticketing System (UTS). The officer said that ticket cutting from the window will not stop, but the load on it will be reduced.
