The Southern Railway has introduced the facility to buy tickets for suburban trains on mobile phones.
In stage one of what is a pilot project, tickets can be bought for journeys commencing at Chennai Beach, Chennai Egmore, Saidapet, Chrompet and Tambaram. Detailed instructions are available at www.indianrail.gov.in. A 24-hour-helpline – 9840931998 — for passengers has been activated.
This application can be downloaded on any Android/Windows-based smart phone and passengers can register using their mobile number. The passenger is given a zero value account known as Railway-Wallet (R-wallet). The account can be charged by the user across the counter in any of the five locations or through the website www.utsonmobile.indianrail.gov.in. However, at present, charging and recharging the R-Wallet will only be across counters. The online facility will be activated soon.
They can then proceed to buy the tickets. The passenger must then go to an ATVM (Automatic Ticket Vending Machine) at the respective station and get a printout of the ticket by clicking the UTS ticket option. Passengers cannot travel without this printed ticket.
However, commuters said that ATVMs do not work in most stations and people are not able to use the smart cards. “In some stations, burglars break the machines thinking it has cash,” said S. Mohanram, former member, divisional railway users’ consultative committee.
