Railway Smart Card for train tickets: Fast-tracking digitalisation, the Indian Railways has enabled a facility where rail passengers will be able to purchase Unreserved Tickets through Automatic Ticket Vending Machines (ATVMs) at railway stations without the need to stand in a queue.

Passengers who want to avoid long queues at railway stations to get unreserved train tickets, here is a smart formula for them. They need to purchase a smart card from the station. Moreover, the Indian Railways has enabled a facility where rail passengers can purchase unreserved train tickets through Automatic Ticket Vending Machines (ATVMs) at railway stations without standing in long queues.

Earlier, when money in the smart cards got exhausted, rail passengers had to visit the booking counters at railway stations for recharging them.

The online mechanism will help railway passengers avoid standing in queues at the railway station booking counter. Apart from this, it will also help to avoid crowding of the passengers at the station booking counters, particularly during these coronavirus pandemic times, as per the South Central Railways.

How to recharge railway smart card online:

  1. The rail passenger needs to register on the website www.utsonmobile.indianrail.gov.in.
  2. Click on the option of “Smart Card Recharge” in the menu.4
  3. Payment can be done through all digital options such as Credit Cards, Debit Cards, UPI, Internet Banking, etc.
  4. Once the payment is confirmed, money will be deducted and passengers will be prompted to visit ATVM of the concerned zone within a period of 15 days or card expiry, whichever is earlier.
  5. When the passenger keeps the smart card on the reader at ATVM and selects “Recharge Smart Card” option, then ATVM will automatically fetch details of online recharge done and the amount will be topped up on ATVM smart card.
  6. The smart card balance would be ready for ticketing purposes and it can be used o­n any ATVM of the concerned zone.

Initially to get the Railway Smart Card, passengers only need to submit valid address proof and other required details at the stations. Thereafter, Passengers can recharge the smart card initially with minimum of Rs 100 for purchase of tickets. (Image: Shutterstock)

The Railway Smart Cards allow the passengers to buy Unreserved tickets and Platform tickets without having the need to stand at the counters.