India, Dec. 25 -- Following frequent complaints from commuters about erasable ink on tickets issued by automatic ticket vending machines (ATVMs), Western Railway (WR) has decided to procure new machines equipped with thermal printers, officials said. The railways will introduce 273 new ATVMs in two phases, with orders for the first batch expected to be placed by the first week of January.

According to WR officials, tender proceedings for procuring 147 ATVMs have been initiated by the Mumbai division and are currently being vetted by the headquarters. The decision was taken as the printers used in existing ATVMs require frequent maintenance and often produce tickets with poor print quality, officials said.

Tickets generated from ATVMs of...