| In a bid to become more customer-friendly, the Indian Railways is planning to allow people to book tickets on land lines and mobiles and provide information on train arrivals via SMS. | |
| The proposals, which were mooted at the beginning of the year, will finally be operationalised within the next two months. | |
| "The projects will be launched on a pilot basis in the Delhi area within the next two months," Railway Board Chairman RK Singh told Business Standard. The services will be provided to passengers travelling on Shatabdi, Rajdhani and Jan Shatabdi trains from Delhi. | |
| With the phenomenal success of internet bookings "" the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) is booking about 3,000 tickets per day "" it had been decided to offer the facility of booking tickets on fixed line telephones also, IRCTC Managing Director MN Chopra said. | |
| The proposal to offer booking facilities on mobile phones has been around for some time. The launch had been delayed on account of time taken to develop the appropriate software and for testing. The railways have tied up with Hutch and Reliance and are looking at tie-ups with other players in the telecom segment too. | |
| In case trains are more than 30 minutes late, the arrival time will be made available on demand via SMS. There will be no need to call the railways enquiry number. The service network will provide regular updates on the expected arrival time of trains to the subscriber. | |
| The railways is still in the process of tying up with a cellular network for the services. On its e-ticketing initiative, Singh said the railways was planning to allow passengers to use a computer printout of the reservation slip to be used in lieu of a ticket. The service is to be made available on a pilot basis on select Shatabdis from Delhi.
| |
Top Section
Explore Business Standard