Bharti Airtel, through its fully owned subsidiary Airtel M Commerce Services Limited (AMSL), has tied-up with the Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation Limited (IRCTC) to offer railway bookings through Airtel money.
With this, commuters traveling by rail everyday will now be able to register through the register option *400# on Airtel mobile phones and book tickets through their mobile phones via Airtel money.
Vikas Singh, CEO, Bharti Airtel - Kerala and Tamil Nadu, said, “Train travel is one of the most common way for a lot of our customers. Our integration with IRCTC for reserved ticketing is a step to empower our customers specifically beyond the urban footprint with the convenience of booking tickets without the need of holding a bank account or an internet connection.”
IRCTC mobile bookings through Airtel money boasts off a simple, convenient, quicker and secure alternative to the conventional methods of booking via standing in reservation counter queues or booking online. The service works across all mobile devices, does not involve any data or SMS charges and uses a simple USSD (Unstructured Supplementary Service Data) technology that prompts users with interactive and guided menu options towards booking tickets.
Through this service, customers can not only make ticket bookings but also search for stations, trains, availability, PNR enquiry and cancellation. To use the service the customer should be a registered IRCTC user and the IRCTC profile should be updated with one’s Airtel money number.
IRCTC user ID can be created by visiting www. irctc.co.in As per railway reservation rules, booking services are not available between 8 am - 12 noon and 11.30 pm - 12.30 am.