How to buy an ATVM Smart card for Eastern railway and recharge it, buy a ticket from ATVM

What is ATVM Smart Card?

ATVM card is mainly a smart card which enables you to buy a ticket without standing in a long queue. The full form of ATVM is Automatic Ticket Vending Machine. ATVM was first introduced in India in western railways (Mumbai) in 2010. After its successful operation it was introduced in other part of railways. In eastern railway ATVM was introduced in 2012. Basically there are two type of Automatic Ticket Vending Machine (ATVM). (1)  Smart card operated ticket vending machine (2) Coin operated ticket vending machine. Coin operated ticket vending machines are not yet available but Indian Railways is planning to introduce it soon. In my opinion the main motivation of making ATVM is to reduce the ticket buying time which we mainly do during buying tickets in long queue and another motivation is to reduce the usage of coins. This ATVM smart card is only for buying local train tickets in eastern and south eastern railways. To buy tickets from ATVM first you need to have a ATVM smart card then you can buy tickets from ATVM.

How to buy an ATVM smart card?

ATVM smart cards are available in selected counters, mainly available in major platforms like Sealdah, Howrah, Barasat Jn [eastern railway].

To buy smart card visit the specific ATVM counter and ask for a new ATVM card and you have to pay Rs.100/- and you will get an ATVM smart card and a ticket in which you will get every details of your ATVM card.

Details you will get from the Ticket:

• Your smart card number( Eg-ER1234567)
• Smart card validity(Valid up to 1 year)
• Security deposit( for Rs.100/- first time buy security deposit is Rs.50/-)
• Actual travel value( Eg- Rs.52/-)
• Bonus value of your recharge(Eg- when you recharge Rs.50/- you will get Rs.2/- as bonus and as the recharge amount goes higher the bonus value also increases)

How to recharge ATVM smart card?

As I already have mentioned that ATVM is available in selected counters. The counter from which you bought your smart card, also provide recharge.You have to give your smart card to the counter person for recharge. You will find a chart at the counter and can recharge any value listed in the chart. You will get bonus value when you recharge above Rs.50/-. If you have any previous travelling that sum will be added with the new recharge value. Suppose you have previous travelling value of Rs.12/- and you are doing Rs.100/- recharge and with Rs.100/- recharge you are getting bonus value of Rs.5/-. So total travelling value after recharge will be 12+100+5=117.

How to use ATVM smart card to buy a Ticket?

An ATVM contain 3 major parts. (1) A touch sensitive monitor (2) A smart card holder (3) Ticket outlet.

• First put your smart card on the smart card holder and wait for validation of your card.
• After validation of your smart card you get the option to select your preferred language. In eastern railway ATVM you will get 3 language options (1) Bengali (2) Hindi (3) English.
• After selecting your preferred language you have choose destination. Destinations will be displayed like a map on the monitor. On monitor you have to touch your destination and your destination will be selected.[Note: you won’t have to select your source station as from which station you are buying tickets is your source station]
• After selecting your destination you have to choose number of tickets as well as single journey or return journey( platform tickets, children, senior citizen tickets are also available*)
• After selecting number of tickets you have to confirm your selection and have to print your tickets.

Advantage of ATVM smart card:

• You won’t have to stand for tickets in a long queue.
• No harassment of exact fair.
• No need of any ID proof to buy ATVM smart card.
• Can be used by any members of your family

Disadvantage of ATVM smart card:

• Till now, ATVM is not available to every station. Only major stations have ATVM.
• You have to go to ATVM specific ticket counter for recharging. Online recharging is not yet available.
• If you lost your smart card and someone found it, they can also use it too.
• Those are not so accustomed with the touch screen it is hard for them to handle the transaction properly.