Bhubaneswar: More and more railway passengers seem to have become tech-savvy when it comes to booking of unreserved tickets through their mobiles under the jurisdiction area of East Coast Railway (ECoR) in Odisha, data suggests.
According to the data released by the zonal offices of the railways, there has been a jump of 315 per cent when it comes to the increase in the numbers of passengers opting to book the unreserved tickets through a mobile application called ‘UTS’.
Data claims that by the end of December 17 in the current calendar year, the total number of passengers who booked unreserved tickets (general coach tickets) online stood at 9,62,319, that is 315 per cent more than the corresponding year in 2018. Up to December 31, 2018, the unreserved ticket booking through mobile phone was only 3,50,510.
Under this system of online booking, the passengers who do not have booked tickets on reserved coaches can book online tickets through their smart phones using the mobile application. This app allows people to book unreserved tickets for general coaches at the last minute when they are within 5 kms around their nearest railway station. The payments could also be made online akin to IRCTC bookings.
Till December 17 of this year, unreserved ticket booking through mobile phone in Khurda Road Division stands at 5, 26, 377, in Waltair Division it is 3, 68, 713 and in Sambalpur Division it is 67,230. In 2018, UTS Tickets booked through Mobile Phone in Khurda Road Division was 1, 63, 994; Waltair Division was 1, 24, 955 and Sambalpur Division it was 16, 561.
Urging people to utilize the service to avoid rush and standing in queues in the railway stations, the ECoR urged people to use the railway authorized mobile app more frequently.
He said, “UTS train tickets can be booked between 20 meters and 5 Kms radius from the Boarding Station and passengers can book tickets from the originating Stations to any destination Station over Indian Railways except Konkan Railway. East Coast Railway urges passengers to book unreserved train tickets through their mobile phone to avoid rush and long queue in Booking Counters.”