The i-ticket (Internet-ticket) facility, introduced by the Railways in 2002-03, allows users to book a ticket through the Internet, reports Business Line. But the ticket print-out is taken by Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) and delivered by post to the passengers. The Railways, which launched e-tickets in 2005 after about a year of delay since the proposal was envisaged - feared that the e-tickets may be misused. E-tickets have proven to be a hit since their launch. Apart from the sheer ease of taking the print-out at the user's end without having to wait for a courier delivery, the fact that the service charge for booking e-tickets are cheaper than i-tickets also helped.
Additionally, the Railways has also allowed booking of waitlisted e-tickets and allowed other flexibilities including changing the place of boarding. As for travel agents, IRCTC has widened the reach of e-tickets by authorising 80 large groups to book e-tickets on behalf of IRCTC. Earlier, IRCTC operated purely on a B2C (business-to-consumer) model, but now it also operates on a B2B (business-to-business) model.
The groups which provide e-ticket booking services include makemytrip.com, cleartrip.com, ITZ, onestopshop.in, Ministry of Defence and about 20 State Governments at their kiosks under the e-governance model. I-tickets are still primarily used by the elderly.
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Quelle/Source: Siliconindia, 01.12.2009
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