3 min readChennaiFeb 2, 2021 05:33 PM IST
First published on: Feb 2, 2021 at 05:33 PM IST
After the Southern Railway began allowing the public to travel via Chennai’s Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS) and suburban trains in December last year, the railway body reintroduced the use of the Mobile Unreserved Ticketing System app (Mobile UTS) across the city’s suburban and MRTS train network on Monday.
The app, which had been launched three years ago with the aim of curtailing long queues at ticket counters had been suspended during the lockdown and the initial unlock periods in Chennai. “It has been reintroduced now for Chennai users”, an official from Southern Railway told Indianexpress.com.
Currently, unreserved journey tickets can be booked on the app only by those travelling along the following routes in the Chennai network:
- Chennai Beach – Velachery
- Chennai Suburban Terminus – Tiruvallur
- Royapuram – Gummidipoondi
- Chennai Beach – Chengalpattu
Unreserved journey tickets can be booked at any time of the day, except between 6.30 am and 9.30 am and 4 pm and 7 pm. However, the Mobile UTS app cannot be used for booking seasonal and platform tickets at the moment.
Keeping in mind geo-fencing, tickets have to be booked between a 30 metres to 5 km radius of the stations. Booking a ticket inside these limits is a violation of Railway commercial rule and passengers will not be able to receive their ticket.
The tickets can be paid for using the Railway Wallet (R-Wallet), net banking or debit/credit cards. Passengers can either opt for paperless tickets or paper tickets based on their convenience.
Once a journey ticket has been booked, passengers need to commence their journey within one hour of confirmation.
While workers providing essential services are allowed to travel during the peak hours from 7 am to 9.30 am and 4.30 pm to 7 pm, the public can travel during the non-peak hours from dawn to 7 am, 9.30 am to 4.30 pm and 7 pm to closing hours.
Passengers booking unreserved journey tickets online should download the app and register themselves before creating the R-wallet. The wallet can be recharged either at ticket counters or on the IRCTC website.
The Southern Railway added that counters for recharging the R-Wallet will be opened at Puratchi Thalaivar Dr. MGR Chennai Central, Chennai Egmore, Chennai Beach, Mambalam, Tambaram, Perambur, Avadi, Tiruvottiyur, Chennai Park Town and Velachery stations based on passengers’ requirements during non-peak hour travel.
While it is not mandatory to use the R-wallet, passengers recharging the wallet can avail a 5 per cent cash bonus upon booking.
User’s phones should be GPS-enabled and should have GRPS connectivity at all times, especially if passengers are booking paperless tickets. Passengers who are unable to show their paperless tickets due to theft or loss of phone, low battery etc will be fined for ticketless travel.
As per guidelines laid down by the Indian Railways, the UTS app cannot be used by minors and those who have been suspended from availing railway services.
The Mobile UTS app can be downloaded from the Google Play Store for Android users and the App Store for iOS users. The Windows version can also be downloaded from the Windows Store.
Unreserved tickets can be booked at any time of the day, except between 6.30 am and 9.30 am and 4 pm and 7 pm. Express Photo 
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