The Printing Presses owned by The Indian Railways are to close down. The railways has decided to close down all its 14 printing presses and move the staff employed in the presses to other departments. The decision was taken during a meeting of railway minister Piyush Goyal with top railway officials.
The move is part of the railways’ strategy to exit activities which are no longer integral to its functioning. The concerned printing units are mostly old and house outdated machinery. Moreover, the printing demand at railways has decreased due to automation and less use of paper for forms, books and tickets etc. The railways is expected to meet its future printing demands by outsourcing.
Earlier, these units were used to print tickets which were then supplied to stations. With computerisation, most of the units have become non-operational and have very few staff. Also, with the introduction of IRCTC, majority of ticketing moved online.
