'139' servive to become fully functional from May 1

New Delhi, Apr 29 (UNI) The comprehensive Railway Enquiry System on Tel. No. 139 would become fully functional from May one, Northern Railway announced today.

Consequently, the Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS) Nos.

1330, 1335 and 125050 would be withdrawn with effect from May one, it said.

In July last year, Railway Minister Lalu Prasad had launched 139 service, a single window facilitation centre providing basic services like arrival/departure of trains, PNR status and accommodation availability.

The helpline is to also 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).

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