Now, book unreserved train tickets through smartphone

Bhubaneswar:  Railway passengers of the East Coast division will now be able to purchase unreserved tickets through a mobile-based app Unreserved Ticketing System (UTS) for travelling in almost all short as well long-distance trains.

The facility was launched by ECoR General Manager Umesh Singh at Rail Sadan here this afternoon by saying the service will be a great relief for passengers.

The geographical jurisdiction of ECoR zone extends over three states encompassing almost all of Odisha along with parts of Srikakulam, Vizianagaram and Visakhapatnam districts of northeastern Andhra Pradesh and Bastar, Mahasamund and Dantewada districts of Chhattisgarh state.

A Railway official said the problem of charging excessive amount for a general ticket will automatically come to an end with the start of the digital transaction process.

“With the availability of a mobile app to book unreserved tickets, passengers will get their journey hassle free and it will be more comfortable for travelling in general compartments. This is because, earlier, they had to stand in long queues for several hours for getting train tickets from general ticket booking counters at the city railway station,” said ECoR Principal Chief Commercial Manager Ajay Kumar Behera.

Through this app, passengers can make payments through credit cards, debit cards, and several mobile-based wallets, without facing any hardship. Although several specifications have been taken into consideration while developing the mobile app, passengers would have to follow all the steps strictly to get their unreserved tickets.

If a passenger wants an unreserved ticket, then the passenger has to stay between 20 metres to 2 kms from the Railway stations for the smooth functioning of the app.

A passenger can also get a platform ticket or a season ticket by using the app.

A passenger have to download UTS App from Google Paly store/Window Store/Apple Store and then register his or her mobile number, name, date of birth and address proof. After successful registeration, a 4 digit passoword SMS will be sent to the customer’s mobile number and R-wallet will be created with zero balance. Passengers then have to recharge minimum balance of Rs 100 and maximum of Rs 10,000 in the R-wallet.

After booking the tickets through the App, passengers will use “Show Ticket” option to show the ticket checking staff when asked during their journey. If a passnegr fails to show this then he or she will be treated travelling without ticket and fine will be impose as per the rule.

“Show Ticket” option will also work even there is no internet connection, another official said.