Lok Sabha Question No. 185 (STARRED), answered on 2015-08-03
Subject: Funds for Rail Line Project
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: DEVUSINH JESINGBHAI CHAUHAN

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK  SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO.185 TO BE ANSWERED ON 03.08.2015

## MODERNISATION OF TICKETING INFRASTRUCTURE/MECHANISM

## †*185. SHRI HARISH CHANDRA ALIAS HARISH DWIVEDI:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be please to state:

- (a) whether  the  Railways  are  satisfied  with  the  system  of ticketing  and  fare  collection  in  vogue  and  if  so,  the  details thereof;
- (b) whether  the  Railways  are  aware  that  touts  and  other unscrupulous elements have dented the ticketing mechanism and if so, the reaction of the Government thereto;
- (c) whether the Railways propose to modernise/transform the existing ticketing infrastructure  and  promote  the  current practice of e-tickets on mobile,  tablets and other IT  enabled services in a big way;
- (d) if  so,  the  details  thereof  including  the  funds  likely  to  be incurred for the purpose; and

(e)the  time  by  which  the  new  mechanism  is  likely  to  be introduced?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF RAILWAYS

(SHRI SURESH PRABHAKAR PRABHU)

- (a) to (e)   A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.
- ......

STATEMENT  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PARTS  (a)  TO  (e)  OF STARRED  QUESTION  NO.185  BY  SHRI  HARISH  CHANDRA  ALIAS HARISH DWIVEDI TO BE ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 03.08.2015 REGARDING  MODERNISATION  OF  TICKETING  INFRASTRUCTURE  / MECHANISM.

(a)    Yes,  Madam.    Indian  Railways  have  taken  a  large  number  of steps to make the booking/reservation of tickets and fare collection easier  and  user  friendly  by  introduction  of  facility  of  booking  of reserved tickets through internet and mobile phones, by proliferation of computerised Passenger Reservation System (PRS) centres  at  about  3100  locations,  providing  PRS  counters  in  about 300 Post Offices, provision of Yatri Ticket Suvidha Kendra (YTSK) licensee  scheme  etc.  Further,  the  capacity  of  the  e-ticketing system has been expanded with the launch of the Next Generation e-ticketing  System  (NGeT).    This  new  e-ticketing  system  has  an enhanced capacity of booking 7200 tickets in a minute as against the capacity of 2000 tickets per minute of the old system.

For  public  convenience,  proliferation  of  Unreserved  ticketing  has also  been  done  through  setting  up  of  Computerised  Unreserved Ticketing Counters at Railway Stations, appointment of Jan Sadharan Ticket Booking Sewaks (JTBS) for disbursing Unreserved tickets  and  launch  of  Mobile  application  for  booking  Unreserved tickets.      Unreserved  Ticketing  System  (UTS)  counters  have  been provided  at  more  than  5800  locations  and  about  1500  Automatic Ticket  Vending  Machines  have  been  installed.      Mobile  ticketing application for booking unreserved tickets was launched at Mumbai on 25.12.2014 and at Chennai on 13.01.2015.  Paperless Unreserved ticketing on Mobile Phones has also been launched at Chennai on 22.4.2015  and  between  Church  Gate  -  Dahanu  Road  suburban section of Western Railway on 08.07.2015.

(b) No, Madam.  However, some instances of booking of tickets by individual  for  commercial  gains  have  been  reported.    Several checks have been introduced to curb the problem.

(c)  to  (e)  Expanding  the  reach  of  the  ticketing  systems  is  a continuous and ongoing process.

The capacity of the e-ticketing system has been expanded with the launch  of  the  Next  Generation  e-ticketing  System.    In  addition  to more than 3100 locations for issuing reserved tickets, tickets can now be booked online through website as well as through mobile applications.

In  order  to  promote  the  current  practice  of  reserved  e-tickets  on mobile  or  tablets,  mobile  applications  have  been  launched  on Android, Windows, Blackberry and iOS platforms.

-------