Now, book rly tickets on your mobile phones

Making the best use of mobile phones and their increased penetration, the Railways on Friday launched an application for booking paperless unreserved tickets as well as platform tickets to reduce queues at reservation counters.

The initiatives are mostly targeted at the Mumbai suburban sections, where 75 lakh passengers travel by local trains. Launching the IT-enabled passenger services here, Union Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu said: “The initiative is in tune with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Digital India’ mission and seeks to help passengers save time by booking tickets right from their home before travelling.”

The paperless platform ticket programme would cover the major sections in the Mumbai suburban sections, as well as New Delhi and Hazrat Nizamuddin stations. Prabhu also launched paperless season tickets on suburban sections of the Western Railway, Central Railway and between New Delhi and Palwal section of the Northern Railway. A currency coin-cum-card-operated automatic ticket-vending machines at suburban stations on the Central Railway and the Western <g data-gr-id="14">Railway,</g> was also launched. 

Besides, all 60,000 coaches of Indian Railways will soon be provided with user-friendly dust bins, Prabhu said.