LAHORE: More rail passengers will now get seats of their choice reserved in trains of their choice from anywhere in the country as Pakistan Railways has entered into an agreement with a cellular company for online tickets fee payment.

“We have achieved another historic milestone today in the journey to modernise Pakistan Railways (PR) and further facilitate our passengers,” said Minister for Railways Khwaja Saad Rafique at the agreement signing ceremony at a The Mall hotel on Monday.

Under the agreement between the PR and JazzCash, rail passenger would now be able to pay for their booked e-tickets via JazzCash mobile accounts, JazzCash agents, debit or credit card of any bank after getting their seats reserved through the PR website or Mobile App.

The minister said the PR would be able to attract 20 million more passengers after the introduction of mobile-based ticket purchase system.

“The passengers will not have to come to railways reservation and booking offices and stand in queues to get their seats reserved. They can now pay from the comfort of their homes,” said Mr Rafique.

He said the restructuring of the railways was also under way while for the first time a comprehensive service structure for PR employees was also being finalised.

Earlier, PR Chief Executive Officer Javed Anwar said since the introduction of e-ticketing system two years ago, the turnover of passengers has increased.

“At present, we are selling rail tickets worth Rs10 million daily. With the introduction of this facility we expect to attract some 55m more passengers.”

Railways Information Technology Wing Director General Fahad Rahman said through digitised payment system, rail tickets worth Rs500m have been sold so far. He said the new e-system would also revamp the online ticket fees financial reporting and reconciliation mechanism at PR.

Published in Dawn, September 19th, 2017