Train tickets thru' SMS from Jan
Monday, 21 December 2009
Jasim Uddin Haroon
Bangladesh Railway will introduce nationwide SMS ticketing system from next month mainly to reduce the sufferings of the passengers, officials said Sunday.
Under the new system, travellers need to send short text messages from their cellular phones' messaging service (SMS) option and in reply they will get a confirmation identity number.
Prior to their journey passengers will collect the hard copy of his/her ticket from the SMS booths at the stations. However, selling of tickets from the ticket counters at the station will continue.
"We expect to launch the new system from the first week of January as we have completed all necessary technical aspects," Moniruzzaman Chowdhury, managing director of software development company CNS, which is implementing the project told the FE.
He also said travellers will get printed tickets confirmed through SMS services at Kamalapur, Airport and Chittagong railway stations initially and added: "We'll expand the services to other stations later."
Senior railway officials said SMS ticketing will cover 10 per cent of all intercity train tickets from January.
Divisional Commercial Officer Mia Jahan Ali said the new system will reduce the sufferings of the passengers to a great extent saying: "Under the traditional system, travellers need to come to the railway station twice for a single journey, but the new system will require only one visit."
The passengers' woes mount during the vacations and many are forced to purchase tickets from the black market at a much higher rate than its face value.
Some 18 intercity trains leave the capital city each day carrying between 9,000 and 10,000 passengers.
Bangladesh Railway will introduce nationwide SMS ticketing system from next month mainly to reduce the sufferings of the passengers, officials said Sunday.
Under the new system, travellers need to send short text messages from their cellular phones' messaging service (SMS) option and in reply they will get a confirmation identity number.
Prior to their journey passengers will collect the hard copy of his/her ticket from the SMS booths at the stations. However, selling of tickets from the ticket counters at the station will continue.
"We expect to launch the new system from the first week of January as we have completed all necessary technical aspects," Moniruzzaman Chowdhury, managing director of software development company CNS, which is implementing the project told the FE.
He also said travellers will get printed tickets confirmed through SMS services at Kamalapur, Airport and Chittagong railway stations initially and added: "We'll expand the services to other stations later."
Senior railway officials said SMS ticketing will cover 10 per cent of all intercity train tickets from January.
Divisional Commercial Officer Mia Jahan Ali said the new system will reduce the sufferings of the passengers to a great extent saying: "Under the traditional system, travellers need to come to the railway station twice for a single journey, but the new system will require only one visit."
The passengers' woes mount during the vacations and many are forced to purchase tickets from the black market at a much higher rate than its face value.
Some 18 intercity trains leave the capital city each day carrying between 9,000 and 10,000 passengers.