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Come April 23 and rail commuters can use a mobile phone App to obtain tickets in the unreserved category as the Indian railways takes forward its initiative for paperless ticketing.
"We are launching a mobile-based paperless unreserved ticketing application tomorrow," said a senior Railway Ministry official. Having booked a ticket using the App, a commuter need not take a print-out of the same and can show its soft copy on the cellphone to the TTE.
Apart from being a green initiative, the paperless ticketing system would also save time for passengers as it allows them to avoid lining up at the ticket window.
As per the plan, one may download the App from the Google App store for Android-based mobile phones.
After the download, the user will get a registration ID number for creation of a railway e-wallet.
Money for buying tickets will have to be loaded through the e-wallet mobile payment system either online or at a ticket counter at any station.
Passengers have the option of topping up the e-wallet at ticket counters or on the IRCTC website using a credit or debit card, the official said.
Besides booking tickets, one can even renew season tickets using the App, which the official said will be a great help for commuters in the unreserved ticketing segment.
The App-based ticketing system was tried out in the Mumbai suburban sector on a pilot basis. The App will be available for cellphones running on the Android operating systems.
An App for Blackberry will be available later