Railways launches three IT-based passenger amenity projects

Railway Minister Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu on Wednesday launched three passenger amenity projects to provide the next generation of paperless tickets and alert systems.

The three projects namely NGeT (next generation e-ticketing) for Hindi website, paperless unreserved ticketing through mobile phones for Mumbai suburban and destination SMS-based alert service for Rajdhani and Duronto trains were launched in the national capital at the Rail Bhawan.

"Today with the launch of a new service portal for booking e-Tickets in Hindi for railway passengers, an important budget commitment," the minister said.

Referring to the paperless ticket, the minister cited that the concept has successfully worked in Chennai suburban railway network and now it has been launched in Mumbai.

Similarly, destination alert in Rajdhani and Duranto trains which was launched on Wednesday are very useful services for the passengers.

The minister pointed-out that all the new information technology (IT) initiatives are in-line with the digital India campaign.

Railway Board Chairman AK Mital elaborated that within 132 days of the railway budget, 64 commitments made under it have been met.

Mital informed that after the Hindi website services, the railways can start to cater passengers using other languages soon.

According to the railways, the NGeT initiative will help in promoting e-ticketing service through IRCTC (Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation) website.

Whereas, paperless unreserved ticketing through mobile phones will eliminate the need for printing unreserved tickets.

The paperless unreserved ticketing service is being rolled-out on the Churchgate - Dhanuroad suburban section covering 35 stations over 123 kms.

The destination alert service is a free value-added service to the travelling passengers to alert them about arrival of the train at their respective destinations.

"It is targeted towards all passengers whose destination comes at night. This service involves sending an SMS to a passenger 15 minutes before the train is expected to reach destination during night hours," the railways was quoted in a statement.

The statement added that the passengers are required to provide their mobile number at the time of booking to receive this service.