Travellers can now book air tickets through a new mobile application which will be launched this week by the Railways. The integrated mobile app will cater to various needs of passengers like booking porter, retiring room, ordering food besides train tickets. It is being developed by the CRIS, the Railways’ software arm, at an estimated cost of INR seven crore, said a senior Railway Ministry official involved with the project. The official said currently there are multiple apps of the Railways to cater to various passenger requirement, including on board cleaning but most of them offer only a single service. Mobile app users need to search and download each application separately and need to give a single window interface for these services, the official said. Therefore there was a need to give a single window interface for these services, he said, adding besides train- related services, the integrated app can also be used for booking taxis, hotels and also air tickets.
The project for integrated railway mobile app for Indian Railways was announced in the Rail Budget 2016-17. “Presently we have different digital solutions for ticketing, grievance redressal and other issues. We intend to integrate all such facilities into two mobile apps, one dealing with all ticketing issues and the other for receipt and redressal of complaints and suggestions related to all our services,” Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu had said in his budget speech.
