Soon, buying WR ticket will be an SMS away …….Roana Maria Costa
Mumbai: In three monthstime, commuters will be able to use their cellphone to purchase suburban train tickets.The WR was supposed to introduce this facility in January this year.
The paperless ticket scheme, the first of its kind in India, is now in its final stages and will be introduced by the end of October. The project was delayed because of several factors like modification of software to prevent misuse and RBI guidelines needed to be ironed out.
Another technical hitch that pushed back the launch was that initial settings allowed only mobile users with GPRS to avail of the scheme. The Railway Board approved the pilot project in December, but the final guidelines took time to arrive,officials said. The company implementing the project for WR is Oxigen Pvt Ltd. Kiosks and locations for sale of tickets have been finalised.
Post offices,which have been selling long-distance tickets,will also issue unreserved tickets by the end of this financial year.
How to make the purchase
* SMS mobirail to 9870888888 to download the application. You will get two SMSes; one confirms your oxicash wallet creation, user ID and password and the other will help you download and instal the application
* You can top up your e-purse at station kiosks, Oxigen outlets and at mobile and e- port outlets; alternatively, you can log on to www.oxicash.in/topup
* You have to log your pin on to the e-purse
* Purchase the ticket by entering details like station, number of passengers, class, train and ticket type. You can view the ticket purchased in view tickets which holds ticket information for the last five purchases