The Hindu Business Line : Buy train tickets through your mobile phone

Passengers can book their tickets by logging onto www.irctc.co.in Web site from a GPRS or WAP-enabled cell phone. The payment for the tickets can be made using credit card, much the same way as in the case of buying online.

The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) has made its Web site compatible with mobile phones. Officials at IRCTC said the facility would be available in a month or two.

"We are going to offer this facility for all mobile phone service providers so that their users benefit out of this," an official at IRCTC said.

The Railways will also introduce `e-tickets' in the next couple of months. To begin with, this facility will be available for passengers of select Shatabdi Express trains.

Passengers can board the train with a computer printout, which will have a unique transaction identification number. This number will be generated after completing payment at the IRCTC Web site.

The ticket examiner will verify the number. Passengers will also be required to prove their identity. This facility will eliminate the need for sending tickets to passengers who made bookings online.

Railways will also soon introduce a facility to inform passengers through SMS about delayed departure of Rajdhani, Shatabdi and Jan Shatabdi trains, if the delay is more than 30 minutes.

Initially this facility will be available as a pilot project on such trains departing from Delhi. Passengers can give their mobile number at the time of reservation.

In the area of safety too, Railways is making full use of technology. Surveys have been completed in 3,465 km for using `anti-collision device,' an microprocessor-based system that automatically stops trains if they happen to be on the same track, thus preventing head-on collisions.

Surveys for the use of the device ACD is in progress for an additional 10,000 km.

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