This is really a great news and something that will positively affect millions of train commuters in India – No more carrying printouts of your tickets or standing in a long queues in front of ticket window.
According to the news that appeared on IBN Live, Indian Railways have announced that it will soon be releasing a mobile application that will make it possible for commuters to book the tickets on mobile itself. After the ‘m-ticket’ (mobile phone-based ticket) is booked, travellers will receive a ticket through SMS in 20 minutes. This SMS can then be furnished to ticket checker as a normal ticket along with your personal identification!
This mobile application will be part of the website – www.indianrailways.gov.in, which essentially offers all ticketing services like train alerts, PNR status, train status, seat availability, train schedule, time table and Ticket Fares.
I tried searching for the application on Indian Railways website and also visited the website via my mobile phone – however, I did not find any mention of launch of this new Mobile Application. Instead, the Indian Railways website gave me Malware errors !
I am assuming that the said mobile application will be GPRS based and will have payment gateway integrated in it. However, I am quite skeptical about how many users will be able to use it successfully. Their web experience itself leaves a lot to be desired. With mobile, I expect it to be even worse.
One thing though – I would be very happy if I am proved wrong as I will be one of the more frequent users of that app! Even if the app works half as well as it is supposed to, it will save time & effort of millions of Indian travellers!
Indian Railways are already chasing the Railway ticketing agents out of the system – With launch of this mobile app, I guess the door will forced shut for them.
We will do a detailed review of this Indian Railways app as soon as we get our hands on it, so stay tuned!