NEW SERVICE: Railway Minister Lalu Prasad and ICICI Bank MD and CEO K.V. Kamath share a lighter moment after the bank and the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation signed an MoU for ticket sale through merchant establishments, in New Delhi on Thursday.
NEW DELHI: The Railways and ICICI Bank on Thursday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that would enable reservation of railway tickets from shopping malls, commercial establishments and ICICI Bank outlets.
The MoU was signed by Rajni Hasija, General Manager, Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) and Sachin Khandelwal, general manager ICICI Bank in the presence of Railway Minister Lalu Prasad and his two deputies, Naranbhai J. Rathaw and R. Velu, Railway Board chairman, J.P. Batra and IRCTC chairman, P.K. Goel at Rail Bhavan here.
Terming the agreement to make available e-tickets at merchant establishments and shopping malls across 125 cities as a historic step aimed at revolutionising railway reservations, Mr. Prasad indicated that more such passenger facilities would be revealed in the Railway budget on February 26.
He said passenger convenience was the focus for preparing railway plans and programmes and this would be kept in mind while presenting the budget. The web-enabled services through e-points of sale machines would enable dispensation of reserved tickets to the common man, apart from the existing services of e-ticketing. The railways have already announced extending from 60 days to 90 days the time duration for advance reservation.
Under the new initiative, tickets could be purchased through credit cards or on payment of cash and would include service charges and surcharges as per rules.
The aligning of Railways with ICICI Bank would help facilitate spreading the network of reservation providing widespread convenience to passengers for reservation or cancellation of tickets. ICICI has 1.6 lakh establishments across the country and if the present scheme, initially launched in Delhi, is successful, it could be extended to other establishments. The machines, called swiping machines (e-POS), available in high concentration areas could be utilised by the public for purchase of reserved tickets as well as shopping needs.
The facility is expected to ease the massive rush at the ticket counters in railway stations, besides saving valuable time and energy. "The ICICI has been an old creditor to the Railways and they should provide further loans for the completion of various other railway projects,'' Mr. Prasad said.
