Min of Railways translates citizens’ ideas from MyGov into actions
MyGov members had shared their views on the “Indian Railways” group, which was previously known as the “Digital Rail” group. The group had two discussion topics viz. “Train Enquiry System” and “Ticketing System”. We’re delighted to inform that the noteworthy suggestions posted on MyGov have been duly taken into consideration by the Ministry of Railways. These suggestions have been instrumental in bringing about a positive change for provision of better services by the Indian Railways.
The actions and decisions taken by the Ministry of Railways in pursuance of the ideas and concerns received on MyGov are highlighted below:-
| S.No. | Ideas & Suggestions | Decision or Action Taken |
| 1. | SMS Alerts to passengers before train arrival with journey details including expected train arrival time. | Train arrival/departure status is available on SMS. The passenger can send an SMS to 139 with syntax SPOT |
| 2. | Sound Alerts for travellers during night to intimate train arrival at destination station. | Destination arrival alerts is available through 139 Railway Enquiry service w.e.f. 20/10/2014. Destination Alert can be set by calling 139 on telephone and also by sending an SMS to 139 with syntax ALERT |
| 3. | Additional enquiry number with regional language support. | In addition to Hindi and English, Railway Enquiry 139 provides information in several regional languages like Assamese, Bengali, Oriya, Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Punjabi, Marathi and Gujarati. |
| 4. | Payment Gateway of IRCTC should support International Debit/Credit cards. | IRCTC has tied up with travel portals like Clear Trip, Make My Trip and Yatra through web services. The websites of these web services associates of IRCTC accept International Debit/Credit cards also. |
| 5. | Toll Free number (139) should be free | 139 Rail Enquiry is based on PPP model and is chargeable. It is not feasible to make it Toll Free. |
| 6. | Allow ticket booking using Mobile balance. | Using mobile balance for ticketing booking is not feasible as per prevailing regulatory provisions. |
| 7. | Travelling Ticket Examiner should use a Tablet instead of using Pen and Paper. | Hand Held Terminals for updating passenger turned-up status have been provided in few trains on Pilot basis. Further expansion to some more trains is in progress. |
| 8. | IRCTC website ticket booking system to have more bandwidth to avoid crash. | IRCTC website has been upgraded with higher bandwidth, new application software and a new set of servers. The system is now capable of handling about 1.2 lakh concurrent connections. |
| 9. | Railway ticket reservation from Common Service Centre. | IRCTC has entered into an agreement with “CSC e-Governance Services India Ltd” for enabling Railway ticket reservation from Common Services Centers. A large number of CSCs are now enabled with Rail Reserved Ticketing. |
We call upon all citizens to keep up their momentum of sharing practical ideas and make their voice heard as MyGov remains committed to transform your ideas into action!
