Railways planning sale of e-tickets on its portal

Indian Railways are mulling the sale of e-tickets on its portal which will end IRCTC's monopoly in e-ticketing business and provide multiple booking avenues to rail passengers.

Indian Railways are mulling the sale of e-tickets on its portal which will end IRCTC's monopoly in e-ticketing business and provide multiple booking avenues to rail passengers.

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Highly placed sources in the Railway Ministry said the new facility will be one of the several passenger-friendly features planned to be rolled out before the Dussehra festival this year that falls towards September end.

The decision, if materialises, could be yet another setback for IRCTC, thanks to the new catering policy unveiled recently which stripped the Railway PSU of its catering responsibility that formed its core business.

While the PSU made a business of approximately Rs 450 crore from catering during the last financial year, it earned Rs 122 crore from selling e-tickets.

Currently, thirty per cent of all rail bookings are done through IRCTC website.

CRIS, the IT arm of Railways, is understood to be already working on providing e-ticketing facility on Indian Railways website www.indianrailways.gov.in

Sources said passengers would stand to gain from such a move as getting access to IRCTC website was proving difficult especially during initial hours in the morning when booking commences.