CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu and Kerala, two of India’s most developed states, use internet to book around 80% of their train tickets. According to data obtained by TNIE via RTI, percentage of paper tickets stood at 26-28% in Southern Railway (SR) in 2018, with national average being 35%. During 2019-2020, paper-ticket percentage fell to 22.8 and further to 21.5 during 2021-22.
SR encompasses six divisions, namely Chennai, Tiruchy, Madurai, Palakkad, Tiruvananthapuram, and Salem. It serves the entirety of TN, Kerala, and Puducherry and small portions of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.
According to the data, about 9.64 crore tickets were reserved at SR originating stations between April 2019 and March 2020, of which 2.20 crore were paper tickets (22.8%) and the rest were e-Tickets. Similarly, between April 2021 and March 2022, 2.35 crore (21.5%) tickets were booked at counters out of the total 10.8 crore tickets. Between April and June this year, the share of paper tickets was 18.4% (57.4 lakh out of a total 3.11 crore tickets).
The rising trend of booking tickets on IRCTC (Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation) portal and its app was attributed mainly to the introduction of user-friendly features such as probability of confirmation of waitlisted tickets, change of boarding point, improved algorithm (displays multiple trains on the routes), exemption in carrying a print out of e-Tickets, ease of booking, said official sources.
Passengers disagree
A section of rail passengers, however, claimed that the migration of passengers to e-Tickets was an outcome of the closure of reservation counters in rural pockets and a shortage of staff. Naina Masilamani, member of Divisional Rail Users Consultative Committee, Chennai, said the number of reservation counters in Chennai Central, Egmore, Katpadi, and Arakkonam fell gradually in the past few years, as a result of which many chose to book tickets online.
The process of ticket booking had indeed been simplified. But online booking benefits mostly those with access to Android smartphones with faster internet by offering them higher chances of getting confirmed tickets than those who stand in counters, she said.
Reservation on IRCTC portal was introduced in 2005 for New Delhi-Kalka Shatabdi Express and later extended to all trains. In the early years, 50% of the tickets were earmarked for online booking. During 2008-09, however, all tickets were thrown open for online booking.
In April 2017, booking of tatkal ticket was enabled on IRCTC mobile app, which purportedly led to the migration of a large chunk of passengers to e-Tickets. As for staff shortage, a railway official said staff were posted at reservation counters in major stations based on demand. “We also provided reservation counters in partnership with third parties in a few places. More tickets are being booked online mainly because passengers find it more convenient to do so.”
