The Minister of Railways, Lalu Prasad on Tuesday announced several new initiatives to make the train travel safe and comfortable.

Presenting the Railway Budget for 2008-09 in the Lok Sabha, he announced that a multi-pronged strategy using information technology has been prepared to permanently terminate long queues at railway ticket reservation counters within two years.

The Railways are exploring the option of issuing tickets through mobile phones besides increasing number of unreserved ticketing system (UTS) counters to 15000 and Automatic Ticket Vending Machine counters to 6000 to facilitate availability of ticket in neighbourhood.

The Railway Minister also announced extension of e-ticketing to wait-listed passengers and of Jansadharan Ticket Booking Seva to all Zonal Railways. These steps would provide employment to thousands of unemployed youth besides ensuring easy availability of railway tickets.

By 2009, a call centre based inquiry services will be unveiled.  Issuance of wait-listed e-tickets will also allowed. Smart card-based ticket system is also planned.

Railway Budget: 2008-09