<p>The government is considering barring private vendors and agents from booking train tickets for passengers, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal said on Friday.</p>.<p>"I think vendors and private agents are not needed as people can purchase the tickets through mobile phones," he said in Lok Sabha, adding that he was considering barring them.</p>.<p>Those who need help in buying tickets can go to "common service centres" which are run by government, he said.</p>.<p>He said almost everybody has access to smartphones and those should be put to use to book railway tickets and put an end to practices such as ticket agents.</p>.<p>For those not having access to smartphones, tickets could be booked at the Common Service Centres across the country, the minister said.</p>.<p>Goyal said government has taken stringent action against touts who used certain illegal software to rig the rail ticket booking website that led to ordinary passenger not getting confirmed tickets.</p>.<p>“We have arrested 104 persons selling illegal software and 5,300 touts and blacklisted 884 booking vendors,” the minister said.</p>.<p>Goyal rejected allegations of privatisation or railways, but made a strong pitch for leveraging the capabilities of the private sector to provide better facilities to rail passengers.</p>.<p>“If it is only left to the government to raise all the money, then welfare schemes will be hit and it may be forced to boost revenue by raising taxes and fare,” Goyal said adding that investments to the tune of Rs 50 lakh crore were required in the Railways over the next 12 years.</p>.<p>The Minister said projects dating back to 1974 had been pending in the ministry and the Modi government, after coming to power in 2014, had identified 58 super critical projects and 68 critical projects for completion within a fixed timeframe.</p>.<p>“We fixed a target for electrification of 6,000 km of rail line and reached 5,200 km as against 600-650 km of electrification in 2013-14,” Goyal said.</p>.<p>Owing to this, the Modi government may soon scrap the system of ticketing agents and booking vendors for Railway tickets and encourage passenger to do their ticket bookings from the IRCTC website.</p>.<p>Many "illegal softwares" were used to book tickets, he said, adding that tickets worth over Rs 10 crore were cancelled. These softwares were banned and 104 people selling them were arrested as well, Goyal told the House.</p>
<p>The government is considering barring private vendors and agents from booking train tickets for passengers, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal said on Friday.</p>.<p>"I think vendors and private agents are not needed as people can purchase the tickets through mobile phones," he said in Lok Sabha, adding that he was considering barring them.</p>.<p>Those who need help in buying tickets can go to "common service centres" which are run by government, he said.</p>.<p>He said almost everybody has access to smartphones and those should be put to use to book railway tickets and put an end to practices such as ticket agents.</p>.<p>For those not having access to smartphones, tickets could be booked at the Common Service Centres across the country, the minister said.</p>.<p>Goyal said government has taken stringent action against touts who used certain illegal software to rig the rail ticket booking website that led to ordinary passenger not getting confirmed tickets.</p>.<p>“We have arrested 104 persons selling illegal software and 5,300 touts and blacklisted 884 booking vendors,” the minister said.</p>.<p>Goyal rejected allegations of privatisation or railways, but made a strong pitch for leveraging the capabilities of the private sector to provide better facilities to rail passengers.</p>.<p>“If it is only left to the government to raise all the money, then welfare schemes will be hit and it may be forced to boost revenue by raising taxes and fare,” Goyal said adding that investments to the tune of Rs 50 lakh crore were required in the Railways over the next 12 years.</p>.<p>The Minister said projects dating back to 1974 had been pending in the ministry and the Modi government, after coming to power in 2014, had identified 58 super critical projects and 68 critical projects for completion within a fixed timeframe.</p>.<p>“We fixed a target for electrification of 6,000 km of rail line and reached 5,200 km as against 600-650 km of electrification in 2013-14,” Goyal said.</p>.<p>Owing to this, the Modi government may soon scrap the system of ticketing agents and booking vendors for Railway tickets and encourage passenger to do their ticket bookings from the IRCTC website.</p>.<p>Many "illegal softwares" were used to book tickets, he said, adding that tickets worth over Rs 10 crore were cancelled. These softwares were banned and 104 people selling them were arrested as well, Goyal told the House.</p>
