Vijayawada Division grosses Rs.20 Lakh earnings on Paperless Unreserved Ticket Sales through 'UTS on Mobile' App during June, 2019

Vijayawada Division implemented ‘UTS on Mobile’ App, one of the major digital avenues in taking forward the digitization of Railway services for the convenience of passengers, as desired by Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and Shri Piyush Goyal, Hon’ble Minister of Railways. 

Shri P. Srinivas, Divisional Railway Manager made an appeal to all the rail users to avail the services of user friendly UTS on mobile App for purchasing the tickets which will help them to avoid waiting in queues at stations and also save their valuable time. 

Shri P. Bhaskar Reddy, Sr. Divisional Commercial Manager played a vital role in mobilising the commercial staff and by conducting continuous awareness campaigns in order to boost the ticketing sales through UTS mobile app. During the various ticket checking drives and checks conducted, the division has witnessed wide popularity of UTS mobile app even in the remote locations of Vijayawada Division. 

For the first time after successful launch of UTS mobile App in July, 2018, Vijayawada Division has witnessed earnings of over Rs.20 Lakh in the month of June, 2019. Vijayawada Division recorded a total of 91,236 passengers with gross earnings of Rs.20,42,675 in the month of June, 2019. Earnings of Vijayawada Railway station contributed the major part with 16,030 Passengers and Rs. 5,71,650 earnings to the division. 

This facility will reduce rush at booking counters and a significant initiative towards Green Environment since it is paperless. It is an added facility to the passengers also. It is initially introduced in the suburban sector (MMTS jurisdiction) of SCR during the year 2016 as a pilot project. Due to positive response from the rail users, it was extended to the entire Zone in July 2018 and later on, this facility is extended entire Nation from November, 2018 for both suburban and non-suburban services. This ticketing App is user friendly. The main benefits of this APP is that passengers can purchase unreserved, Platform and season tickets through their mobile (Cashless) as per their convenience. The users can create Railway Wallet (R-Wallet) also and avail 5% bonus on every recharge to the Wallet.

South Central Railway has taken several initiatives in order to boost the ticketing sales through 'UTS on Mobile' App, some of them are given below:  

• Frequent announcements have been made at all the railway stations about the availability of mobile app and its benefits, especially during peak hours.
• Display of posters, advertisements at booking counters, parking areas and other prominent places have been done to create awareness among the rail users.
• Special campaigns are conducted at important stations duly installing help desk at concourse areas for bringing awareness about the mobile App to the rail passengers.
• Bulk SMSes about the availability of Mobile App have been sent to season ticket passengers who are purchasing season tickets at general counters.
• Special campaigning by commercial staff along with print and electronic media in day journey trains has been undertaken.
• Special campaigning programme were organised at important educational institutions about the benefits of UTS on Mobile App.
• Periodical workshops have been organised to the commercial staff and inspectors about the functionality and its benefits.