I am not a regular train commuter. So the one thing I dread more than the crowds when I have to travel by the Mumbai locals, is the long queue for tickets. It seems like it takes longer to get the tickets than to actually commute by train especially if you have to go short distances.
But I guess the Indian railways were listening to my ticketing woes and so they decided to make it simple for travellers to get tickets. UTS is an application created by the Indian Railways to make it easier for people to get tickets without having to actually go to the ticket windows or stand in tiring, long queues.
This is a mobile ticketing app that can be used on any smart phone with an Android or Windows platform and could be a boon for commuters considering the fact that it’ll save a lot of our time. The app has an easy interface with features that let people book, cancel and manage ticketing.
But the payment currently can only be made through the railway R-wallet, credit for which has to be bought from the ticket windows.
Intrigued by this new ticketing innovation which might just be the next big technological boon, I decided to try it out.
I must add, at this juncture, that this bore all the hallmarks of the old IRCTC website. The procedure is simple, but logging in has all the excitement of a lottery pool. You may get in or you may not. Or you may still be clicking ‘refresh’ ten minutes later. Anyways, read on further to find out.
To begin with, the app requires you to sign up using your mobile number and location (the app is for Mumbai and Chennai local commuters only).
After you’ve punched in the details, you may or may not be able to sign up. It’s a process of trial and errors and I managed to succeed after a minimum of seven tries.
Like I mentioned before, the app is slow but simple so hopefully while you struggle to log yourself in you won’t be wondering what to do next.
There are four registration steps that will take some time to load and move on. So have patience. Go and get yourself a hot, soothing cup of tea in the meantime. The first step asks you details like phone number, name and city while the second step asks for the train type, payment mode (through R Wallet only) and class of payment. After all your details are given you will get a mobile generated password. You are almost there!
Once you log in with the password your life becomes easier and you can choose your route quickly (phew!). For a print-out of the ticket you can go to the ATVM (automatic ticket vending machine) at various railway stations. This is also only available at select stations currently but will soon be extended.
We just hope that there will be improvements made to the app that will make our lives easier and the app a hit. And a little request to the authorities to make the R Wallet system (which is quite annoying) easier to access, without visiting the ticket counters. And while we are at it, we also request the authorites to please update it sooner than they did with IRCTC.
More On >> Work & Life
