From July 1, you will be able to book your train ticket through your mobile phone at a cost of Rs. 6.
IRCTC has developed a software, providing two options of using the mobile phone to book tickets. The SMS process or the menu-based USSD (Unstructured supplementary data) can be used to book tickets at the designated number, which will be released later.
Railway Minister C.P. Joshi will launch the scheme on July 1.
IRCTC has decided to notify later the designated number for purchase of tickets through mobiles.
Passengers will have to register their mobile numbers with IRCTC and 26 banks that are providing the facility before booking the ticket which is a two-SMS process — at the cost of Rs. 3 per SMS.
The revenue for the mobile service providers come from the two SMSes and no other extra charge will have to be paid by the ticket purchaser.
Banks will charge payment gateway at the rate of Rs. 5 for any transaction below Rs. 5,000 and Rs. 10 for an amount in excess of this.
IRCTC is introducing the mobile wallet concept, from which the ticket fare and its service charge will be deducted.
The advantage of the service is that tickets can be booked from anywhere in the country with a mobile tower reach.
IRCTC has claimed that the mobile phone process will be faster, reliable and secure and no hard copy of the ticket will be necessary while undertaking the journey. The SMS confirmation will be valid.
