Buy tickets from 5000 post offices

Passengers can now buy reserved tickets from 5,000 post offices, Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee said presenting the Railway Budget on Friday.

The Indian Railways plans to improve the Passenger Reservation System (PRS) in a big way. Banerjee said the initiative would cover 200 new towns and cities and further 800 new locations in cities and towns already having PRS facilities.

The Minister invited the Members of Parliament to identify one PRS location of their choice for inclusion in the list of new locations.

For unreserved tickets, the number of Unreserved Ticketing System (UTS) terminals would be expanded from 5000 to 8000 during the current financial year. Automatic Vending Machines would be installed at 200 large and medium sized stations.

The Minister announced the introduction of mobile ticketing vans 'Mushkil Aasaan' for issuing reserved and unreserved tickets in both urban and rural areas.

She said that poor people who are unable to go to the stations can now purchase tickets in market places, mohallas and other busy places where these vans would be stationed. 50 such mobile vans would be introduced during the year.

The Minister also announced the expansion of e-ticketing services and cancellation of confirmed e-tickets after preparation of charts would be further simplified. Efforts are also on to provide SMS updates on waitlisted tickets and indicate berth numbers on confirmed tickets by the end of the financial year, she added.