Will the ‘Go India’ Rail Smart Card, be a
competitor for IRCTC eRail
Wallet. Well, only time will tell.
The
‘Go India’ smart
card ticket project was announced in the Railway Budget 2011-12 by Ms.Mamta Banerjee.
Railways
are in the final stages of launching a pilot run, hopefully by this year end. A
pilot run is necessary to stabilize the operational part and to minimize customer
complaints in the final rollout.
The IT arm of the Indian Railways i.e ‘The
Centre for Railway Information System (CRIS)’, is in the process of
fine-tuning the software for the Smart Card.
In the pilot run, the Smart Cards can be
used to buy tickets on the busy Delhi-Howrah and Delhi-Mumbai routes.
Naturally, the Smart Cards can also be used on the Kolkata Metro, as the
Railway minister belongs to West Bengal. However, Kolkata Metro will be covered
in the second phase.
The pilot run is scheduled for one year,
and depending on the response, this can be rolled-out Pan India.
As per the current thought process, through
the ‘Go India’ Rail Smart Card, one can book reserved and unreserved tickets rail
ticket booking counters, automatic ticketing vending machines (ATVM)
and also through the Internet.
All
major stations like Kanpur, Allahabad and Dhanbad in Delhi-Howrah route and
Baroda and Surat in Delhi-Mumbai sector will have facilities for using Go-India
card.
The
agreement with a nationalized bank will be shortly signed, to make ‘Go India’
Rail Smart Card operational. Which nationalized bank will have the tie-up with
Indian railways? My choice is State Bank of India or Union Bank of India.
The
‘Go India’ Rail Smart Card, will be a semi-closed eWallet.
As
of now, the major difference visible between ‘Go India’ Rail Smart Card and
IRCTC eRail Wallet, is that the eRail Wallet can only be used on IRCTC website,
whereas the ‘Go India’ Rail Smart Card can be used offline as well as online.
The
more the merrier, as the customers will be ultimate beneficiaries.
Re-disseminated by Prashant N. Banker by daytime, Blogger by night.
