Sify iWay and IRCTC enable online railway e-ticket reservations
at cyber cafes
Sify ties up with IRCTC to enable cash payment-based Indian railway ticket reservations from over 3400 iWays across 154 cities in India.
September 21, 2006
Want to reserve a ticket on the Indian Railways and don't have a credit card? Do not have a net connection at home and afraid to use your card in a cybercafe? No worries. Land up at any one of the Sify Iway cybercafes that dot India's cities and small towns, and you can make a cash payment and reserve a railway ticket for traveling anywhere in India!
SIfy has announced its tie-up with the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) to make their online railway ticketing services available at over 3400 Sify iWay cyber cafes across 154 cities in the country with cash payments.
Okay, this project is not online as of today - the pilot project for cash payments at Sify iWays has just started in Delhi. We don't think it will be anything but a success, and hopefully we won't have to wait too long before this is easily possible, and we can escape from the tyranny of long queues at Railway ticket counters and just land up at a cybercafe in India.
Already, online Indian railway ticket bookings on the IRCTC site - which is painfully slow often - has been available to customers who either have a credit card or a net banking facility, limiting the number of people who could actually use this convenient facility.
But as we said earlier, we prefer to pay by cash if possible for a railay ticket. IRCTC and Sify recognised this well, and the alliance should get railway ticket bookings within easy reach of the common man now.
Commenting on the tie-up, Mr. P K Goel, Managing Director, IRCTC, said, “This path-breaking initiative is aimed at making railway e-ticketing easier and convenient for our customers across the country. For they no longer have to worry about using credit cards or having a net banking facility which is restricted to those with access to computers at home or in the office. Instead, they can simply make the online bookings and make convenient cash payment at Sify’s iWays. We are very pleased to be able to make this very successful facility available to all our customers to with the help of Sify iWays. The reach and network of Sify’s iWays is sure to make a difference by enabling access to this online service to the masses.”
Speaking on the occasion of this landmark tie-up, Mr. Raju Vegesna, MD & CEO, Sify Limited, said, “This is a tie-up that will make the online rail ticketing facility of the IRCTC accessible and available to the common man through our wide reach of over 3400 iWays cyber cafes across 154 cities. I believe that this will become a landmark event in the growth of online ticketing in the country by not only making it widely available to everyone, but by overcoming the barrier of online payment with convenient cash payments. It is innovative solutions like this that will grow e-commerce in India, and I am extremely pleased that we have been able to work with the IRCTC to make this possible. This is only the first of many new initiatives planned to transform our iWay cyber cafes from being points for Internet access, to what we like to call ‘eStores’, with all manner of electronic distribution and fulfillment of services.”
So one no longer needs to travel to a railway booking counter, stand in queues or look for a travel agent any longer. All it requires is a visit to the neighborhood Sify iWay, where the café administrator can book the railway ticket online. He or she sits inside the cool ambience of the Sify iWay, and finalises the itinerary based on availability. The customer pays cash against the ticket and collects the ticket printout. In case of ticket cancellations, the customer will follow the standard cancellation process of the IRCTC, after which the customer gets cash against the cancellation.
So, the next time you need to take a train journey, head straight to the nearest Sify iWay to make your bookings!
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