Railways alternate e-Ticket Portal to IRCTC a hit among Railway passengers

Railways alternate e-Ticket Portal to IRCTC a hit among Railway passengers

New Delhi: The railway portal www.indianrail.gov.in is evoking good response from passengers for booking e-tickets in a hassle-free manner across the country. Bihar is one of the leading states where a large number of people are using this portal. Railways had made this portal as an alternative portal to access Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) site to book tickets online.

According to a Railway Board official, this facility is not meant for travel agents. It is exclusively for individual users. The users are required to register themselves for using the railway site, he said. Railways has also introduced facilities like booking retiring rooms, taxi, wheelchairs and cloak room through this site in advance.

The Board official said railways introduced this portal following frequent complaints about non-availability of the IRCTC site during peak time. He said the alleged malpractices and irregularities in issuing e-tickets to people on the IRCTC portal have been completely checked to maintain transparency in e-ticket booking. According to a recent survey, the new site has been able to facilitate people access the IRCTC site, the Board official. Railways is keen to provide multiple choices to passengers to book their journey tickets in advance or just before their journey. The Centre for Railway Information System (CRIS) has been providing assistance to railways to make online ticket booking system easy and foolproof on its own portal, sources said.

Railways has, of late, banned several e-ticketing agents at the country level to check misuse of the IRCTC site. To redress passenger grievances fast, railways has launched a separate cell at the Board level to register complaints about poor quality of meals or any other complaints related to passengers’ journey, sources said.