Rail tickets can now be booked on mobile phone, with the Railways on Thursday launching a new cellphone-based ticketing service.
Inaugurated by Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, the new facility will be available on Hutch and Reliance cellphone services under the aegis of Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation.
To be provided in the National Capital Region on a pilot basis for trains running from and to Delhi, the service will be expanded to 120 cities in the country. Payment will be through credit card.
While on Hutch, the facility is voice-based and is provided through their '123' value-added service, a Java-based booking service is being offered by Reliance through their 'R' world service.
"Ticketing was being done through the Internet. But limited number of people have access to Internet. On the other hand, mobile phones are very common and almost everybody has it," Lalu said, while unveiling the new facility.
The minister also described the launch of the new service as a "farewell" for around 9000 rail travel agents.
"We will now be saved from the menace of touts," he said.
Yadav also announced that the government was considering introduction of a credit-card based sale of rail tickets at the reservation counters.
Earlier, announcing the new facility, IRCTC managing director M N Chopra said the Railways had asked all cellphone companies to be part of the new service.
"To begin with, Hutch and Reliance are providing the service. Hopefully, other mobile companies will come forth and we also expect the facility to be made available on landline phones," Chopra said.
© 2025