New Delhi, June 20 - The Delhi Metro on Tuesday launched its first cashless token sale and card recharge facility starting from Lal Quila Metro Station.

The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) said the service will be extended very soon to all stations of the 'Heritage Corridor' (ITO-Kashmere Gate) of Violet Line.

"With this facility, the commuters will now be able to use the unattended Point of Sales (POS) terminals at the Token Vending Machines (TVMs) by using PIN authentication through their debit or credit cards," the DMRC said in a statement.

The service, currently active in all six TVMs and Recharge Card Terminals (RCTM) at Lal Quila Metro Station, will subsequently be extended to 36 such machines installed on the Heritage Corridor.

"Further by the end of this year, approximately 400 TVMs and RCTMs installed (with unattended POS option for Debit and Credit Cards) at all the stations of the entire DMRC network will be enabled with this facility.

"By next year, another 500 TVMs and RCTMs with this facility will be added at different stations, including Phase-3 of the Delhi Metro Network," the DMRC added.

DMRC Managing Director Mangu Singh said: "The new cashless facility is expected to provide the commuters a more convenient and fast access to the Delhi Metro network besides helping in managing the problem of change/coins at the stations."

The machines will be equipped with CCTV cameras to "ensure the safety" of the commuters. The commuters can select their destination station by touching the desired station on the digital touch screen, after which the machine will show the fare of the journey and ask for the number of tokens required. The total fare will then be calculated and displayed on the screen. The commuters will then be able to use their cards to make the payment.

"A nominal surcharge will be levied on every such transaction using debit/credit cards by the respective bank," said the statement.

--IANS

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