National Desk: Indian Railways has introduced a new regulation to the train customers, and this is a significant alteration with reference to the digital tickets. Henceforth, in case of unreserved tickets being issued via the UTS, ATVM, or railway counters (not including the e-ticket and the m-ticket), it will not be enough to display the ticket on a mobile screen. The ticket has to be carried by the passengers in a physical (printed) form. This has been done in order to curb fraud.
As a matter of fact, artificial intelligence ceases to be a means of making work easier. Its abuse has begun to cause grave issues of security on the railways. A recent example of a fake train ticket made with the help of AI also appeared, which led the Railways to be more alert in the country and improve its control system.
AI-Generated Ticket: One Ticket, Seven Passengers
The case was discovered after an examination of the Jaipur route where some students were traveling by presenting a ticket on their mobile phones. The ticket seemed to be fully authentic at first sight, QR code, journey details, and fare looked legit. But, after the ticket checker made a further examination, a horrifying reality came to light. With an AI tool, the students had modified one unreserved ticket to indicate the number of seven passengers. That is to say, seven individuals had one ticket.
Railways on Alert, Warning Issued to All Divisions
Following this accident, the Railways issued an alert in all the divisions including those in Madhya Pradesh, Jhansi-Gwalior division and other parts. It is now mandatory that TTEs and TCs install a special TTE app on their mobile phones and tablets so that they can check tickets via instant digital verification.
How Fake Tickets Will Be Caught
Railways have also given the clear guidelines that in case of suspicion with the ticket, the authorities will scan the QR code and authenticate the UTS number and colour code. This will instantly tell whether it is a real ticket or has been digitally cloned.
The issue of carrying unreserved tickets by UTS, ATVM or counters (including e- and m- tickets not counted) has been restated by the railways authorities. Mobile telephone tickets will not be regarded as valid.
Focus on Ticket Touts as Well
Another potential use of AI-based technology, which is also suspected by the Railways, is making use of the technology by ticket touts. The process of checking tickets are therefore being enhanced with technology to make sure that any form of digital fraud can be detected at its initial stages.
