To reduce queue at ticket counters, Kolkata Metro Railway on Thursday said they will introduce user-operated automatic smart card recharge machine at all stations by the end of this year.

Last month, two such recharge machines were installed near the ticket counter at Park Street Metro station on an experimental basis.

"Since the system has become very popular with passengers, it has been decided to install a total of 27 such kiosks over 23 stations of Metro Railway by the end of this year," Kolkata Metro spokesperson Protyush Ghosh said.

At Mahanayak Uttam Kumar (Tollygunge) Metro station, the self-recharge facility was extended today with the installation of one machine.

Money would be credited in the smart card by inserting 100 rupees notes, officials said.

The machines have been bought from the Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS) at a price of Rs 2.4 lakh for each such kiosk.

Metro Railway presently carries about 5.5 lakh passengers on an average working day, out of which about 3,56,369 lakhs passengers use smart cards.

In addition to this, about 570 new smart cards are being sold every day and a total of 6386 passengers recharge smart cards every day, officials say.

The first tube railway in the country, Kolkata Metro runs along the busy north-south line in between Dum Dum and Kavi Subhash (New Garia) stations over a length of 25 km.