E-tickets a hit; Railways too reaps benefits

The Central Railway is reaping benefits of its investment in information technology as the quantum of e-ticketing in the Mumbai region has increased by leaps and bounds in the past three years.

In comparison with the window or booking counters,the e-ticketing revenue which was one-third of booking counters three years ago is now almost 50 per cent of the Central Railways window revenue in Mumbai.

According to the data received from the Central Railway,in the financial year 2008-2009,of the total earning from ticket sales of Rs 1,307.6 crore,Rs 330.3 crore was from e-ticketing and Rs 977.30 crore from window ticketing. While in the year 2009-2010,of the total earning of Rs 1,413 crore,Rs 443.88 crore came from e-ticketing and Rs 969.12 crore from window ticketing.

For the current year till November,the total earning was Rs 1,000.66 crore,of which Rs 345.43 crore was generated from e-ticketing and the window earning was Rs 655.23 crore.

The overwhelming response to online ticketing has brought relief to the railway administration as the queues at their booking counters have reduced drastically in the past three years.

Railway is happy to reduce the rush at the booking counters. In a few years,the quantum of online ticketing will go up further. We hope that in the coming years,online ticketing would be the mainstay of railways revenue, said a senior official.

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