NEW DELHI: In a move to ease queues at ticket counters and save time of commuters, the Indian Railways would soon launch a mobile application to provide monthly season tickets and platform tickets in four metro cities.
Launching the paperless unreserved ticketing system for Delhi-Palwal suburban section here on Tuesday, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu said the facility would be made available in Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Kolkata in the next few days. Prabhu also inaugurated a cash/smart card-operated ticket vending machine at the New Delhi Railway Station and a mobile app for freight operation monitoring named ‘Parichaalan’.
The paperless ticketing system was rolled out as a pilot project between Chennai Egmore and Tambaram suburban section of the Southern Railway in April and Churchgate-Dahanu Road suburban section of the Western Railway in July.
“About 75 lakh daily passengers use monthly season tickets in Mumbai,” Prabhu said, suggesting how useful the system could be for them. He said the initiative was part of the government’s Digital India initiative.
“Introduction of coin-cum-currency operated ticket vending machine is another step forward in ensuring that passengers get their tickets quickly under Operation Five Minutes announced in the Rail Budget.