Major push to expand ticketing network in rail budget

New Delhi, July 3 : A host of proposals were unveiled in the rail budget Friday to facilitate the purchase of tickets not just from stations, but also mobile vans, post offices and automatic vending machines.

'Passengers can now buy computerised tickets from nearly 5,000 post offices in cities and towns,' Railways Minister Mamata Banerjee said while presenting the budget in the Lok Sabha.

The minister, who announced various people-friendly schemes, also extended the ticket distribution system by introducing mobile ticketing vans christened 'Mushkil Aasaan' (solving problems).

'Poor people who are unable to go to the stations can now purchase tickets in market places, mohallas (neighbourhoods) and other busy places. In this year, we will introduce 50 such mobile vans in the country,' said Banerjee.

Banerjee also extended the reach of the Indian Railways Passenger Reservation System (PRS) - a network of 800 booking locations with 6,872 terminals.

'We will cover 200 new towns and cities and a further 800 new locations already having PRS facilities,' she added.

For easy dispersion of unreserved tickets, the minister announced installing automatic vending machines at 200 large and medium-sized stations.

The budget also proposed to expand the unreserved ticketing system from the current 5,000 terminals to 8,000.

The ministry also plans to ensure passenger comfort through initiatives such as expanding the e-ticket facility, simplifying the process of cancellation of confirmed tickets, and SMS update on wait-listed tickets.