NEWS /

Railway Ticketing Comes to Mobiles

29 Apr, 2007, 12:00 pm IST | IANS |

Two decades ago when Sam Pitroda introduced computerization to railway ticketing, he was greeted with skepticism and derision by politicians and labor leaders. They thought he wanted to replace humans with machines.

Now in 2007, the same Indian Railways has enthusiastically embraced Pitroda's mobile transaction technology that enables ticketing directly from cell phones.

His Oak Brook, Illinois-based technology company C-SAM's mobile ticketing solution has just gone live for Indian Railways, which transports around five billion passengers a year.

The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corp Ltd (IRCTC), a division of Indian Railways which issues tickets to about 15 million passengers daily, now offers "IRCTCmobile" services to provide "cutting-edge technology" powered by C-SAM, improving customer convenience, security and flexibility.

The IRCTCmobile launch has the potential to become the first mass market adoption of a technology which is considered unrivaled in terms of the number of mobile applications it offers.

For a country that adds some seven million mobile phones a month and could see the number of total mobile phones rise to a staggering 500 million by 2010 from the current 200 million, mobile applications are the most effective way to capitalize on such unprecedented connectedness.

"The launch of IRCTCmobile using C-SAM technology signals one of the first large scale, mass market secure transaction applications anywhere in the world to capitalize on the growing mobile phone market," according to C-SAM's official statement issued here.

"With over two and a half billion mobile phones in service worldwide, C-SAM's platform is ideally positioned to deliver various secure transaction applications for carriers, banks and merchants.

"IRCTCmobile allows passengers to perform various services such as book tickets using credit and cash cards, view train schedules, check availability, get fares, perform inquiries and access many other associated information services through mobile phones," the company said.

"The railway ticketing application is part of a web service-based platform that includes other services such as mobile banking, bill payments, P2P, advertising, coupons, NFC etc., offered by C-SAM, a leading technology company headquartered in the US, with a strong presence in India," the company said.

With the portfolio of eight issued patents and more than 20 pending applications that cover a range of financial and non-financial transaction services on mobile phones, C-SAM is considered a leader in the particular technology space.

"IRCTCmobile is a great example of how the most advanced mobile technology can be deployed to benefit the masses, including people at the bottom of the pyramid," said Pitroda.

He also said C-SAM and IRCTC are exploring ways to introduce a wide range of other new services on mobile phones, including issuance of loyalty coupons, advertising, pre-paid cards, m-commerce and travel portals.

Indian Railways, which has acquired a new vigour under minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, is expected to increasingly incorporate high technology into a sector once considered moribund and labour intensive.

Tags: Mobiles , Ticketing

RELATED STORIES

Zebronics introduces Zebstation Lite multimedia speakers

Zebronics introduces Zebstation Lite multimedia speakers

Zebronics, a popular name in the computer peripherals arena has added yet another variant to its portable, battery-powered multimedia speaker line-up, called Zebstation Lite

After Ice Cream Sandwich Google’s next OS – Jelly Bean

Eric Schmidt reveals tentative release date of Ice Cream Sandwich

Intel still 'committed' to fading Meego

Mobile etiquette... do we even know what that is?

Nokia to Launch Dual-SIM Touch and Type Mobiles: C2-03 and C2-06

Average Internet Speeds in India Among the Lowest, Globally

 

Photos

Mugen Power Galaxy Note Battery Pack

Mugen Power Galaxy Note Battery Pack

30 Jan, 2012, 12:52 PM

3.2

Samsung Galaxy Tab 620

Samsung Galaxy Tab 620

25 Jan, 2012, 01:29 PM

3.1

LG Optimus Black P970

LG Optimus Black P970

24 Jan, 2012, 06:11 PM

3.9

MORE PHOTOS

Leaked Images, Availability, Pricing,
Specs, Pre-order

OPINIONS

Ivor Soans

How time flies. A few weeks ago the BlackBerry world was mad at RIM for a massive 3-day outage. Now,...

MORE OPINIONS

The Darkness II - Fear of the Dark

The Darkness II - Fear of the Dark

14 Feb, 2012, 12:37 PM IST

 8.5

It's quite short and it doesn't have any sort of versus multiplayer but The Darkness II is a polished and brutal shooter you should definitely check out, especially if you like ripping dudes to shreds.

WD Scorpio Blue 1TB (WD10JPVT) Review

Spice Mi-280 Review

Logitech ZAAG iPad2 Keyboard Case

Koss KDE250 Review

Vu 40K21 Review

MORE REVIEWS

features

Top 5 cameras under Rs.10,000

Top 5 cameras under Rs.10,000

If one is in the market for a point and shot compact camera, they don’t...

By Aaron Almeida

Market Watch: Tablets (Feb 2012)

Market Watch: Tablets (Feb 2012)

Tablets have been making rounds for a while now, but it wasn’t until a...

By Roydon Cerejo , Rajesh D'souza

Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City Interview

Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City Interview

We sit down and talk to producer Mike Jones who assures us that fans have...

By Avinash Bali

MORE FEATURES

626 views

926 views

577 views

MORE WALLPAPERS

How To: Install ICS on your Galaxy S

How To: Install ICS on your Galaxy S

10 Feb, 2012, 05:23 AM

On video: MSI WindPad Enjoy 10

On video: MSI WindPad Enjoy 10

09 Feb, 2012, 04:50 AM

On Video: Mercury mTab Neo

On Video: Mercury mTab Neo

08 Feb, 2012, 10:18 AM

2.8

MORE VIDEOS

Close

More from this Author

Android Roars Past iPhone in US