Railways launch hassle-free train enquiry service

New Delhi, July 17: The Railways today launched a single window facilitation centre that would revolutionise train journey, offering a variety of services through a common telephone no. 139 which would be treated as a local call throughout the country.

Starting with basic services like arrival/departure of trains, PNR status and accommodation availability, the helpline will later provide a host of value added services like reservation, car rentals, booking tourism products and hotel booking.

In addition, premium services like SMS alerts, Fax and callback facility would also be available on the Integrated Train Enquiry System (ITES), aptly dubbed as 'Rail Sampark'.

Patterned on the PPP model, ITES has been jointly developed by the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Ltd (IRCTC) and Centre for Railway Information System (CRIS).

Launching the ITES, Railway Minister Lalu Prasad said '139' would be a common countrywide number for all train enquiries where calls from any local phone (MTNL and BSNL) can be made.

Initially, the service would be available to MTNL and BSNL subscribers in the northern states. By September, it will be available on all modes of telephony --- landline, WLL and mobile phones --- throughout the country.

''The new concept would make 139 accessible to all telephone lines, WLL and mobile users without prefixing the STD codes to make it a local call,'' he told reporters.

Initially, the service, based on the Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS) and regional call centres, will be available in eight states states and the Union Territrory of Chandigarh in the Northern Zone.

The states are: Delhi and NCR, Punjab, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

''There have always been complaints about the existing train enquiry service. With today's launch, the woes of passengers will be addressed to a great extent,'' Mr Prasad said.

The minister said the ITES would save the Railways a sum of Rs 100 crore as it was based on the Public Private Partnership (PPP) model.

Replying to a query, he, however, made it amply clear there was no plan to make 139 call service a toll-free number. ''A lot of money has been spent on providing this facility. It does not make any sense to make it toll-free.'' Giving details, IRCTC MD Nalin Singhal said ITES will comprise four centres (North, South, East and West) to handle calls both manually and through computers. Each centre will consist of a Zonal Hub and a call centre.

In its first phase, Zonal Hub for North Region in Delhi and a call centre at NOIDA, on the outskirts of Delhi, became operational today. Three more call centres will be set up at Ahmedabad (West zone), Salt Lake, Kolkata (East Zone) and Bangalore (South Zone).

''The process will be completed by September, covering the entire country,'' he pointed out.

Mr Singal said if IRCTC's 139 call service proved to be a success, enquiry facility available at phone nos. 131, 1335 and 1330 would be phased out.

For '139' call service, the IRCTC has entered into an agreement with a consortium of three companies --- BSNL, Spanco Telesystems and Solutions Ltd and Stracon Backoffice Solution Ltd.

''This is going to be a paradigm shift in passenger amenities as it will shorten the queue at ticket windows,'' he said.

Five million calls are made everyday to the railway enquiry telephone lines, generating Rs 60 lakh to BSNL and MTNL. The expanded facilities on 139 call service will help Railways generate more revenues both for fixed line telephone and cellular companies as well as for itself by giving value added and premium services.

UNI