Calcutta: East-West Metro stations are likely to have a few manual ticketing counters and more automated ticket vending machines and smart card recharging consoles.

The move is aimed at shortening queues at ticket counters on the lines of Singapore or Delhi,

"The idea is to reduce congestion at the booking counters and help in manpower rationalisation," a senior railway official said.

In Singapore Metro, every station has several automatic ticket vending machines and a single counter, where only a few passengers turn up.

Delhi Metro stations, too, have only a few ticket counters. "At Rajiv Chawk station, for example, there is usually only one ticket counter that remains open," the official said.

Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation (KMRC), the implementing agency for the project, plans to post a person next to each automatic ticket vending machines to help passengers use it.

"In the first few months, we'll have one automatic ticket vending machine installed at each station along with a smart card recharge machine. We have to see how it works," the official said. He said when the passenger footfall increases with fresh phases, the number of machines could be increased.

Initially, East-West Metro trains will run on the elevated section between Salt Lake Sector V and stadium stations. Later, it will expand till Howrah Maidan through the Hooghly.

At Calcutta airport, too, airlines deploy employees to help passengers get boarding passes printed from self-service check-in kiosks. "If passengers are not provided guidance, the system would never become popular," a railway official said.

Several years ago, Metro Railway had installed two automatic ticket vending machines at two stations as part of a pilot project. But sources said few passenger used the machines and gradually those became defunct.

Metro stations, at present, have no fixed rule for open counters. "The number is decided on the basis of demand. In peak hours we open more counters," said the Metro spokesperson.