Honest 836 Report post Posted March 10, 2008 Harnessing Mobile Technology For Railways In a rare example of action pre-empting intention, mobile rail ticketing had already been in use for several months before Railway Minister Lalu Prasad announced it as one of the highlights in his budget to modernize train reservations. The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corp Ltd (IRCTC), a division of Indian Railways which issues tickets to about 15 million passengers daily, launched IRCTCmobile services to provide "cutting-edge technology" in April last year. IRCTCmobile is a result of mobile transaction technology pioneered by technology guru Sam Pitroda's Chicago-based company C-SAM, Inc. IRCTCmobile is device and network agnostic, which means users can buy any standard phone on any network from any of the operators such as Bharti, BSNL, Reliance or Vodaphone and book and purchase rail tickets on mobile phones. Yadav's assertion that queues at train stations for tickets would be a thing of the past in the next couple of years is in a sense already happening for many users of IRCTCmobile. The solution, which works both on SMS as well data connection, offers icons that the user can choose from to book, purchase and electronically receive train tickets. IRCTCmobile allows passengers to perform various services such as book tickets using credit and cash cards, view train schedules, check availability, get fares, perform inquiries and access many other associated information services through mobile phones. It has the potential to become the first mass market adoption of a technology, which is considered unrivalled in terms of the number of mobile applications and services it offers. Given the size and scale of Indian Railways it can easily become the world's most widespread mobile ticketing application. For a country that adds some eight million mobile phones a month and could see the number of total mobile phones rise to a staggering 500 million by 2010 from the current 280 million, mobile applications such as railway ticketing are the most effective way to capitalise on such unprecedented connectedness. "IRCTCmobile is a great example of how the most advanced mobile technology can be deployed in a country like India to benefit the masses, including people at the bottom of the pyramid," Pitroda said. A statement by C-SAM said the company and IRCTC are exploring ways to introduce a wide range of other new services on mobile phones, including issuance of loyalty coupons, advertising, reward points like airlines, pre-paid cards, m-commerce and travel portals. "To inform people mobile ticketing needs to be promoted across the country at all railway stations since its benefits are meant for millions who use trains as a means of transport," the company said. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sougatadc 358 Report post Posted March 11, 2008 Good idea, My dear Kamal, but IRCTC's site sometimes behave erratically. I have purchased ticket through it quite a few number of times but in a couple of instances it failed at the final step (even after debiting in full from my AXIS Bank account) and tickets was not generated. The amount debited was credited back to my account withing 48 working hours. But I had to queue up at Railway reservation counter for the tickets. Hence e-ticketing or i-ticketing through mobile will gain popularity only when the whole process starts working without a snag. It is not like calling somebody over a phone, getting the line snapped and going for another try. One snap during the ticketing process after the account is debited means you get headache. Regards... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Honest 836 Report post Posted March 11, 2008 ^^^ @sougata Its somewhat true my dear friend. Sometimes IRCTC site do behave like this only. But it will improve time by time, i think Regards. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sougatadc 358 Report post Posted March 11, 2008 ^^^@sougata Its somewhat true my dear friend. Sometimes IRCTC site do behave like this only. But it will improve time by time, i think Regards. Let us hope so! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Honest 836 Report post Posted March 12, 2008 ^^^ Umeed per duniya kayam hai dost. Regards. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kshah 452 Report post Posted March 13, 2008 Good idea, My dear Kamal, but IRCTC's site sometimes behave erratically. I have purchased ticket through it quite a few number of times but in a couple of instances it failed at the final step (even after debiting in full from my AXIS Bank account) and tickets was not generated. The amount debited was credited back to my account withing 48 working hours. But I had to queue up at Railway reservation counter for the tickets. Hence e-ticketing or i-ticketing through mobile will gain popularity only when the whole process starts working without a snag. It is not like calling somebody over a phone, getting the line snapped and going for another try. One snap during the ticketing process after the account is debited means you get headache.Regards... This happens more duriick hours, even banks gateways are jam blocked during pick hours. Best time to book tickets is at 0801 hours Just after it opens. But we must appreciate IRCTC to credit money wirthout any reminders and follow up. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
amtrag 20 Report post Posted March 13, 2008 Yes, it has happened to me also, but the money is always credited back to my account in case of such failures. Just at 8:00 am is the worst time to book tickets because the counter windows just open at all terminals across the country and they simultaneouly login and start bookings at 8:00 am. And this heavily overloads the servers. But in any case, it's much better than standing for 1-2 hrs in queue, even if the transaction fails, you can retry, sitting in the comfort of your own home (or office). Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Honest 836 Report post Posted March 13, 2008 But we must appreciate IRCTC to credit money wirthout any reminders and follow up. ^^^ Thank God its IRCTC and not Reliance. Otherwise we have to beg our money back from them my dear friends. Hats off to IRCTC. Its great. Regards. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
