New Delhi: Come July and you can book your train ticket by sending an SMS. Keeping an eye on the growing mobile phone market in India, IRCTC will launch SMS-based ticketing from July 1 and a dedicated number will be announced soon for this.
Describing the step as environment-friendly as no print-out is required, a senior IRCTC official said "mobile- based booking provides the users ease and convenience of booking tickets from anywhere and anytime. There will be no requirement of a printout because the ticketing message will be considered as valid during the journey."
As per the requirement, one has to register the mobile number with IRCTC as well as one's bank. The Bank provides MMID (Mobile Money Identifier) and OTP (one time password) for authorisation of payment.
The official said SMS booking is very simple as a passenger has to type the train number, destination, journey date, class and passenger details such as name, age and gender on the SMS box....
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07:27 AM, Jun 12, 2013
New Delhi: Railways have decided to launch an SMS-based service for immediate response to passenger complaints regarding housekeeping service in coaches. The service will be launched on a few select trains to facilitate passengers to contact onboard staff through SMS or phone call for complaints related to cleanliness in coaches, toilets and other problems faced during journey. An On-site Passenger Complaint Redressal System (OPCRS) is being developed as envisaged in...
05:25 PM, Jun 09, 2013
New Delhi: After revising the food tariff for all trains except premier services in 2012, Railways have firmed up a proposal to increase the rates of food served in Rajdhani, Shatabdi and Duronto. As per the proposal, the overall increase in food item would be higher for passengers travelling in AC-II, III and chair car categories, but would be minimum for AC-I. Passengers in premier trains - Rajdhani, Shatabdi and...
08:52 PM, Jun 04, 2013
New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation has summoned former railways minister Pawan Bansal for questioning on Tuesday into the Railway bribery scam. Sources say Pawan Bansal must have been aware of favours given by his nephew Vijay Singla. Sources say the Railway board member-level postings can be cleared only by the Railways Minister. CBI sources also said the interrogation of Railway GM Mahesh Kumar revealed that Bansal and one...
08:43 AM, Jun 04, 2013
New Delhi: Former Railways Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal will be summoned by the Central Bureau of Investigation for questioning in the Railways bribery case, probe agency sources told CNN-IBN on Monday. Sources further revealed that Bansal, who resigned following the scandal, will be questioned on in-house postings in the Railway Board, which are cleared only by the Railways Minister. Bansal had to resign as Union Railways Minister after his nephew...
06:13 PM, Jun 03, 2013
New Delhi: A group of travel agents have used forged letterheads of Union ministers S Jaipal Reddy, Anand Sharma and KC Venugopal to get confirmed wait-listed rail tickets, police said on Sunday. A case of cheating and forgery has been registered by the Delhi Police on a complaint filed by the Vigilance wing of Northern Railways after it got a tip off from its Divisional Commercial Manager in Lucknow. A...
11:14 AM, Jun 02, 2013
Mumbai: Senior cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, who played a crucial role in Mumbai's conquest of their 40th Ranji Trophy title this season, on Wednesday received award for striking the fastest century in the national championship at the annual awards function of Mumbai Cricket Association here. Tendulkar, who slammed the century against Railways at the Wankhede Stadium, received the award at the hands of fellow Mumbai stalwart and former India captain Dilip...
09:26 PM, May 29, 2013
New Delhi: With the aim of bridging the gap between demand and supply in e-ticketing category, IRCTC on Monday spelt out its grand plan to book 7200 e-tickets per minute in the current fiscal. Currently, the ticketing site of the IRCTC is able to handle about 1.2 lakh concurrent connections on web servers and can book about 2000 tickets per minute. In a detailed presentation of its upgrading, IRCTC Managing...
10:18 PM, May 27, 2013
Kolkata: The Left Front on Thursday asked Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to respond to allegations by a senior West Bengal IPS officer about "corrupt practices" when she was the railway minister. "Serious allegations of corruption have been levelled by a senior and respected IPS officer from the state. We don't to want question her (Banerjee) integrity. But to keep that image intact the chief minister must come out with an...
04:26 AM, May 24, 2013
New Delhi: The record loading of 1010 million tonnes freight and slight improvement of punctuality and safety have been listed as major achievements of the Railway Ministry during the year by the UPA government. Besides ongoing rail expansion, execution of Dedicated Freight Corridor work and introduction of bio-toilets have also found mention in the UPA's Report to the People for the year 2012-13. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh released the UPA...
12:45 AM, May 23, 2013
New Delhi: The latest cricketer nabbed in the spot-fixing scandal, which hit Indian cricket last Thursday, is the 30-year-old Railways player Baburao Algu Yadav. Born in Chandrapur, Maharashtra, Baburao made his first class debut for Vidarbha way back in 2001-02 when he was just a budding 18-year-old medium pacer. But despite doing well with the ball (18 wickets in six matches at an average of 18.66 with a best of...
08:38 PM, May 20, 2013
New Delhi: The Railways on Monday suspended former Ranji Trophy player Baburao Yadav from its Signal and Telecom division after his detention in New Delhi in IPL spot-fixing case. Baburao, who was an operator in the division, joined Railways via sports quota seven years ago. Delhi Police sources have told CNN-IBN that police are current interrogating Baburao, who had introduced alleged bookie Sunil Bhatia to Rajasthan Royals player Ajit Chandila....
08:30 PM, May 20, 2013
New Delhi: Embarrassed by the revelations about a union leader and retired RPF official occupying three government bungalows, the Railways has cancelled allotment of two houses and started eviction proceedings. "When it came to our notice that two houses are not been used for the purpose they were allotted, we decided to cancel the allotments," said a senior Railway Ministry official. Two of the bungalows allotted to retired officer of...
11:32 PM, May 16, 2013
New Delhi: The Railway Board chairman on Wednesday asked the RPF association to vacate Railway properties with immediate effect. The RPF Association has been illegally occupying four properties including one in Delhi. CNN-IBN had reported that the CBI was looking at the role and clout of the RPF Association in Railway postings. The Intelligence Bureau and the Ministry of Home Affairs have already issued alerts and advisories against the RPF...
07:09 PM, May 15, 2013
Patna: With UPA-II having six ministers in the Railways during the present tenure, RJD president Lalu Prasad on Monday took a jibe saying since he left Railways his successors were getting "derailed". "After I left Rail Ministry, none of my successors have been able to stay there...everybody is getting derailed in the ministry," Lalu, who served as a rail minister in UPA-I, told reporters. Lalu was commenting on resignation of...
07:56 PM, May 13, 2013
New Delhi: Over 6,400 railway employees are facing departmental proceedings for being allegedly involved in corruption during 2012. Departmental proceedings were initiated against 6,454 employees, including 195 gazetted officials, working in different zones and allied departments of the Railways between January and December 2013 for alleged corruption, according to a latest data. Of the total of defaulting officials, a highest of 1,637 were working in Northern Railway zone, 698 under...
05:10 PM, May 13, 2013
New Delhi: Two days after he was forced to put in his papers, Pawan Kumar Bansal has defended his decision. The MP from Chandigarh whose nephew was caught accepting bribe for facilitating railway jobs, insists that he has done no wrong. Bansal welcomed a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the Railways 'cash-for-jobs' scam and said that truth will emerge. Bansal on Sunday said, "I welcome the CBI probe. I...
10:12 AM, May 12, 2013
New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has secured key leads linking Railway Protection Force (RPF) to Recruitment Scam to Railway cash-for jobs scam, said sources. CBI sources added that RPF officials played key role in dubious recruitment deals. Leads suggest that RPF association was used to carry out deals and a hawala route was used for cash dealings. The Home Ministry had recommended banning of RPF Association but...
01:52 PM, May 11, 2013
New Delhi: Pawan Kumar Bansal on Friday evening resigned as Railway Minister following allegations of corrupt practices by his close relatives and aides. Sources say that Bansal resigned after Congress President Sonia Gandhi met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and asked him to force the Railway Minister to put in his papers. Bansal has already sent his resignation to the Prime Minister. Mallikarjun Kharge, a senior Congress leader from Karnataka, is...
06:08 PM, May 10, 2013
New Delhi: The information on Central Bureau of Information (CBI) raids on Railway Board member Mahesh Kumar may have been leaked, according to sources. Sources say Mahesh Kumar may have been tipped off about the CBI raids. Mahesh Kumar allegedly removed incriminating documents from his house and other locations, according to sources. The CBI has initiated an internal inquiry on the suspected leak. Meanwhile, CBI sources say there is no...
12:10 PM, May 10, 2013
