Online now, rly ticket booking changes tracks

Long queues at ticket booking windows at railway stations are set to shrink. Soon, a slew of reformatory initiatives....

Long queues at ticket booking windows at railway stations are set to shrink. Soon, a slew of reformatory initiatives, with a dash of technology thrown in, could redefine ticketing in the Indian Railways.

For one, the Railway Ministry is all set to allow air travel and tourist agents and general sales agents (GSA) to book e-tickets for customers. This comes after the ministry recently decided to authorise Rail Traveller Service Agents (RTSA) for online booking. The idea is to encourage people to book tickets online.

‘‘Airlines agents are already losing a lot of commission with more and more fliers opting for e-ticketing. By allowing them to book railway tickets online, we would not only provide them business but straightaway get 3,000 counters across the country selling our tickets,’’ said Sudhir Kumar, OSD to Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav. ‘‘However, these agents would not be allowed to operate on Passenger Reservation System Counters and would have to operate from their shops,’’ he added.

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With over six lakh reserved tickets being issued every day, the 1,300-odd Passenger Reservation System Counters are overcrowded and ill-equipped to handle the rush. Ministry officials said that despite a huge demand for more PRS counters, the idea was not viable as it costs Rs 12 lakh to set up a PRS counter and Rs 2-3 lakh annually for maintaining it.

‘‘E-ticketing is the future. The number of online ticket bookings has gone up from 2,000 a day to 16,000. Our plan is to increase it to 160,000,’’ said an official. With this in mind, the website of the Indian Railway Catering & Tourism Corporation Ltd has been upgraded to be able to issue around a lakh tickets a day. Further, after reducing the internet booking rates from Rs 50 to Rs 25 in this year’s Railway Budget, the ministry could soon effect another reduction soon to attract more users.

Also in line is a move to issue Platform Tickets through SMS, a pilot for which is already on at Bangalore Railway Station .‘‘A lot of rush at railway counters is due to people wanting to buy platform tickets. We have tied up with BSNL to try a system wherein you send a text message (PFT) to a designated number (1390) and get a five-digit code back as SMS confirming your platform ticket. You punch the code into a handheld machine outside the station, and get a slip which is your platform ticket,’’ said Bangalore’s Divisional Railways Manager Mahesh Kumar. There are plans to increase the number of these handheld machines at Bangalore from two to 20 shortly.

The ministry is also chalking out detailed plans to introduce unreserved tickets and monthly season tickets through unmanned Unreserved Ticketing System (UTS) counters using smart-cards. ‘‘We have tried this at Bangalore and the results have been encouraging,’’ said an official.