Commuters who use the R-Wallet to book unreserved tickets through the mobile phone app of Indian Railways will soon get a five per cent cash incentive.
The pre-loaded funds in the railway wallet, an e-payment mode of Railways with no service charge, unlike credit cards, will be solely for the purchase of unreserved tickets.
The initiative, as per the railway board’s directive to further promote unreserved tickets through mobile phones, will be launched initially in the Southern Railway in a week.
The maximum recharge limit on R-Wallet has been increased from ₹5,000 to ₹10,000. For a top-up of ₹10,000, ₹500 incentive will immediately reach the R-Wallet of the commuter.
The upgrade of the software provided by the Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS) was expected this week, Chief Commercial Manager (Passenger Marketing), Southern Railway, J. Vinayan told The Hindu .
The process
Commuters can download the mobile app ‘UTS on MOBILE’ on GPS-enabled Android, Windows and Apple iOS mobile phones. After signing in, the user can book tickets with pre-loaded funds in R-Wallet. The ticket will get downloaded to the smart phone. The passenger has to be in the geo-fencing area of the station which is 25 m away from the railway track/station and within a radius of five km of the station.
For using the facility, passengers have to register their mobile number in the app or online at https:// www.utsonmobile. indianrail.gov.in/
“Commuters can top-up the R-Wallet from the railway counters or through the official website of the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC). The roll out of the cash incentive will be after trials for one week,’’ he said.
Shift to e-platform
Of the 22 lakh commuters daily moving through the 675 railway stations under the Southern Railway, 20 lakh purchase unreserved tickets and the remaining two lakh depend on PRS centres. Since April 14 after launch of mobile unreserved tickets, 2.5 to 3 per cent (60,000) of the 20 lakh have switched over to the digital platform.
“The cash incentive to be rolled out will see a huge switch over in the coming days,” Mr. Vinayan said.
