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More People Go for Train E-ticketingAHMEDABAD, Nov 10, 2009 (Khaleej Times - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- With an increase in the number of Internet users, more Indians are booking railway tickets online than ever before. A top official of the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), which sells rail tickets online, told Khaleej Times that the sale of e-tickets had shot up from 21.4 million to 38.1 million in the past 12 months. "Last year, 20 per cent of the tickets issued were booked online while this year 40 per cent of tickets have been sold through Internet," said Sanjay Aggarwal, e-ticketing director of IRCTC. He added that serpentine queues outside booking counters at railway stations would soon disappear as e-ticket sales were expected to total 75 per cent in the next few months. Between April and October itself, at least 1.67 million more e-tickets were sold compared to last year. In October 2008, 3.6 million e-tickets were sold while in October this year, 6.4 million e-tickets were booked online. The IRCTC official said that ATMs and petrol pumps are also now equipped to book e-tickets, and most petrol pumps have IT-enabled service stations manned by the railways, where payment by cash/debit or credit card is accepted. Under a new rule, defence personnel can henceforth book tickets online without producing a debit or credit card. All they would require to do is key in their employee number and book the ticket on the IRCTC website. The account office at defence headquarters will pay the amount directly to the railways. [email protected] To see more of the Khaleej Times, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.khaleejtimes.com. Copyright (c) 2009, Khaleej Times, Dubai, United Arab Emirates Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. |