SMS For A Railway Platform Ticket

The South Western Railway (SWR) on Friday launched a novel scheme to sell platform tickets here through mobile phones using the short messaging service (SMS) facility. Claimed to be the first of its kind service in Indian Railways, the electronic system enables subscribers of BSNL and Airtel to buy a platform ticket by keying in 'PFT' and code 3939 (for BSNL) and 64629 (for Airtel) even before reaching the Bangalore city station and collect it from a vending machine at the entrance. "The system will send a five digit pin to the subscribers opting for this hassle-free service. By entering the pin in the SMS-linked vending machine, they can obtain the platform ticket without monetary transaction, as an amount of Rs 4, including Re1 towards service charge, will be collected from the mobile operators," SWR general manager TN Perti said. [....] For those driving into the station terminal in four-wheelers, the zonal railway has installed a computerised car parking-cum-platform ticket-issuing machine at the main city station. ....the hi-tech machine offers pre-paid and post-paid facility.[DNA]