IRCTC Updates: No ID Needed For Tatkal Bookings; IRCTC To Train Auto & Taxi Drivers; IRCTC Requests Banks For Providing OTPs
Indian Railways has announced several new updates and programs this week. Here is a quick brief:
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No IDs Required For Tatkal Tickets
Indian Railways has decided to stop the practice of asking identity proofs during booking –both online and offline. As per an official release, the ID proof would only be required to show during the journey.
As of now, passengers are mandated to provide booking clerk an attested copy of their identity proof while booking from counter, and mention the ID number in online bookings.
Stopping of this step will certainly benefit the passenger during tatkal bookings, as much time is lost in arranging such photocopies and providing them to the booking clerk.
IRCTC Requests Banks For Providing OTPS
As of now, IRCTC has formally partnered with 50 banks for providing payment options during an online booking. However, only 24 banks have One Time Password (OTP) arrangement, which creates fraud possibilities and obstruct smooth flow for the Railways.
IRCTC has formally requested all the remaining banks to initiate OTP procedure so that customers don’t face any hassle while booking tickets. Infact, these 26 banks without OTP system has been given a deadline of August 15th to implement the same.
IRCTC GM (software) M Srinivas said, “We need to implement OTP system by all the banks with a view to checking fraudulent transactions on the IRCTC website. Railway crime branch has also put the IRCTC on alert about fraudulent transactions,”
Out of these 50 banks, 28 banks provide net banking, six offer payment gateways, 10 provide debit card option, 4 offer cash cards while 1 each is EMI-based and IRCTC prepaid card system.
Indian Railways Will Train Auto & Taxi Drivers
In a special campaign aligning with Govt.’s Skill India initiative, Indian Railways will train around 1000 auto and taxi drivers all over the country. The training will teach them about tourism industry, inform them about nearest tourist destination, and give them practical tips on how to delight tourists with outmost care and honesty.
250 drivers would be trained in North Zone (out of which, 235 has already received training); 205 in South Zone; 200 each for East and West Zone. Within North Zone, 75 drivers has been trained in Delhi, 50 in Agra, 100 in Varanasi and 10 in Chandigarh.
Massive Feedback Campaign
IRCTC has been asked to launch a massive feedback campaign for Indian Railways; wherein random passengers are called from 139 number, and asked about the current services. The best thing is that those passengers are called for feedback, who are in the train, travelling.
There are 6 areas which are covered in this survey:
- Cleanliness of station/ platform/ train
- Quality of catering
- Level of cooling of AC
- Quality of food
- Punctuality of trains
- Quality of bedrolls.
Indian Railways operate 1200-1500 trains per day; and as of now, the IVR system from 139 is making 60-80 calls per day, per train. As per Railway officials, they have planned to make 1 lakh calls per day on a consistent basis, and then use the results to further improve the services.
