From July 30, QR code must for boarding train

To ensure social distancing and less crowding in local trains, the state government on Friday issued a circular stating that from July 30, scanning of identification cards with electronic QR codes will be mandatory for government employees involved in essential services, before they are allowed to board the trains. Railway officials confirmed the development, saying they had received the circular, and that it would be implemented from the said date.

The decision comes just over a month since suburban train services were resumed for workers of essential services, to allow for time to upload the QR code system.

The fact that the QR code system would work as e-passes for travel in local trains was a key point decided by the Railways and the state before the services were resumed. However, with the QR code system yet to be made operational, essential workers are currently being allowed to board trains after showing their ID cards at station entry points.

“The process of generating QR codes will be done in twophases. In the first phase, the Human Resources department of all organisations should appoint a nodal officer who will make a list of employees, in soft and hard copy, which needs to be submitted in a sealed envelope to the nodal officers appointed by the state government between July 16 to July 27,” said a railway official.

In the second phase, the nodal officer will send a link of a form to the workers, to be filled by them with details such as boarding and alighting destinations, and which days of the week they would go to work, along with a photograph. These forms, when submitted, will be sent to a

nodal authority, following whose approval QR codes will be generated for the employees.

Once generated, essential services workers will have to get the QR codes scanned at the entr y points of the stations that will soon be equipped with scanners. “Initially, the QR codes will be scanned using a mobile application, but we are working to install independent scanners at entr y points,” said Sumit Thakur, chief public relation officer, Western Railways.

Under the new system, identity cards with QR codes will be provided to each government employee. As the ID cards are scanned at the entrances of stations, the QR codes will throw up photographs of the essential workers to whom they have been issued, allowing the security personnel and ticketing staff to verify the same with ease.

Railway officials said there have been concerns about social distancing on board trains and the Railways have been tr ying to work out solutions to streamline the crowds. “It is a good step taken by the state government to make it mandatory, as it was learnt that many unwanted people were also boarding the train. This will help us to identify who are essential staff and who are not. Moreover, it will reduce the crowds, as some officials are calling their staff on alternate days, and with QR codes, it will be easy to bifurcate who can travel on what date,” a Railway official said. While initially, it was expected that about 1.25 lakh essential workers will travel in trains daily, the number is expected to rise to 2.5 to 3 lakh with the addition of several central government employees to the passenger list. So far, more than 4 lakh passengers have travelled on suburban services since June 15.