Starting July 16, people need not wait in long queues at railway stations to buy unreserved train and platform tickets.
Vijayawada Divisional Railway Manager R. Dhananjayulu has announced the launch of ‘Unreserved Ticketing System’ (UTS) mobile application with which smartphone users can buy unreserved train tickets, season tickets and also platform tickets. “In Vijayawada division, 88% of the passengers travel with unreserved tickets and only a few of them use season tickets. This application is going to end long queues at the counters and give passengers the convenience of buying a ticket on their phone ,” he said.
People visiting the stations to see off or receive passengers can also use the application to buy platform tickets, he said. He said that 72% of the reserved tickets were bought online in the division and the new application would be the best bet for tech-savvy passengers. The application, now available for download, will be activated from midnight of July 16.
Restrictions on usage
However, the app doesn’t allow users to book the paperless tickets under ‘Book and Travel’ option if they are less than 15 metres from the railway tracks or five kilometres beyond the nearest station. Also, tickets could be booked on the same day of the journey. “Paperless tickets can be bought using the application only if the user’s location is at least 15 metres away from a rail track. This is to avoid booking of a ticket after boarding the train or upon sighting a ticket collector approaching users. The best way would be booking the ticket before entering any station,” he said. Users can also book tickets from anywhere under ‘Book and Print’ but have to take a print of it at the stations from the ticket vending machines using the code that is generated on the app.