Coupon Validating Machines become part of Mumbai Railways history

The Coupon Validating Machines (CVMs), installed and developed 21 years ago by the Railways, as an alternate to the then ticketing system, will become part of history from May 1, 2015.

The CVMs and the coupons were introduced in the Mumbai suburban section of Western Railway on 15 August, 1994.

The basic idea behind their introduction on both Central and Western Railway on Mumbai's suburban rail network was to bring down the length of queues at the booking counters and to reduce the time taken to purchase tickets.

The commuter was required to purchase the coupon booklet available from the booking counters and punch the coupons of the appropriate ticket value at the machines installed at the stations, which printed the station code of validation, date and time of validation, to undertake the journey on the Western as well as the Central Railway suburban trains.

The coupon booklets were initially available with the denominations of Rs. 40 /- & Rs. 60/-, which was later increased to Rs. 50/- and Rs. 100/-.

It is worth mentioning that true to its concept, the CVMs were an instant hit among the commuters, especially, for the occasional travelling masses.

The average sale of coupon booklets was approx.imately 20,000 per day and used by approximately 1.70 lakh passengers daily, which amounted to 15% share of the total daily travelling traffic.

The Ministry of Railways has discontinued the Coupon Validating Machine (CVM) Coupons with effect from April 1, 2015 and accordingly, the sale of CVM coupons had been discontinued. However, commuters were allowed to use the CVM coupons available with them upto 30.04.2015 by stamping on the coupons.

Now, these Coupon Validating Machines (CVMs) and the coupon booklets are set to enter into the annals of Railway history after being discontinued to make way for the more technologically advanced ticketing system of Automated Ticket Vending Machines (ATVM) and Mobile Ticketing.