The Hindu Business Line : Fears of `misuse' delay Railways' e-ticket plans

THE Indian Railways' (IR) plans to launch e-ticketing by the year-end is likely to be delayed due to concerns over "misuse." The Railways had been planning to start its pilot project for e-tickets on select Shatabdi Express trains since early this year. However, it has not even been able to kick it off yet for want of Ministry approval.

With e-tickets, passengers would be able to board the train with a computer printout obtained at the passenger's computer terminal. At present, while tickets can be booked on the Internet or through cell phones, the ticket printout is taken at the Railways' end, which is then collected by or delivered to the passenger.

A section of the Railways Ministry fears that chances of tickets being booked in order to be resold would increase if e-tickets were allowed simply because there are no human interactions involved before the passenger gets into the train.

"There are concerns that it would become easier to block tickets by booking them on the Net, get a printout of the ticket without even having to collect them and resell them at a premium," said an official. "The present ticket booking system involves some human interaction while the ticket is delivered or is collected, be it through a counter or the Internet," added the official.

Meanwhile, the Ministry is still working on the issue and "hopes to start the pilot project by January 2005," the official added.

However, there are others who point out that the suggested system is just as prone to misuse as the present methods allowed for booking tickets. "In the proposed e-ticketing system, the passengers are required to produce a proof of their identity as an additional step, which is not even asked for in the present ticket booking system," said another official.

As per the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Ltd's proposed plans for e-ticketing, the passenger would be given a unique transaction identification number on making an online payment for the ticket(s). The passenger would then be required to prove his identity to the ticket checker, who would also verify the transaction number.

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