Book train tickets through SMS come July

In an effort which might put a smile to crores of Indians travelling through Indian Railways, IRCTC plans to introduce booking train tickets through SMS from July. Keeping an eye on the growing mobile phone market in India, IRCTC will launch SMS-based ticketing from July 1 and a dedicated number will be announced soon for this. Describing the step as environment-friendly as no print-out is required, a senior IRCTC official said "mobile-based booking provides the users ease and convenience of booking tickets from anywhere and anytime. There will be no requirement of a printout because the ticketing message will be considered as valid during the journey." As per the requirement, one has to register the mobile number with IRCTC as well as one's bank. The Bank provides MMID (Mobile Money Identifier) and OTP (one time password) for authorisation of payment. The official said SMS booking is very simple as a passenger has to type the train number, destination, journey date, class and passenger details like name, age and gender on the SMS box. "The sender will receive transaction ID and then make payment through sending another SMS by typing PAY followed by the transaction ID, MMID as received from the bank and password, said the official adding "with this the passenger's ticket is booked." The service is available to all mobile subscribers and Rs. 3 is being charged per SMS and payment gateway charges are Rs. 5 for ticket amount upto Rs. 5000 and Rs. 10 for more than Rs. 5000.