With a view to facilitating passengers in booking both reserved and unreserved tickets, Indian Railways has introduced various technological solutions, such as the RailOne App, which is in addition to the conventional modes of booking through counters of Indian Railways. Through this app., passengers can book reserved as well as unreserved tickets on their mobile phone. This, in effect, brings the Passenger Reservation System (PRS) facility as well as the Unreserved Ticketing System (UTS) to passengers’ palms. The RailOne App has advanced security and privacy measures.
The total number of downloads of the RailOne App and the number of daily average tickets booked (both reserved and unreserved) through it (till 15-03-2026) are tabulated below:
| Total number of downloads | 2.57 Cr. |
| Average daily number of tickets booked | 7.64 Lakh |
The App combines all the public-facing services of Indian Railways like reserved ticketing, unreserved ticketing and platform ticketing, train enquiry, PNR enquiry, Railmadad, etc. into a single platform. The users can avail all these services in an integrated manner through a single login. The RailOne App can be downloaded from the Android Play Store and Apple App Store, and registration is user-friendly. In addition, passengers also have the facility to book reserved tickets through the app/website of the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation. At present, approximately 88% of reserved tickets are being booked online.
Further, Indian Railways also engages various types of agents, which are as follows:
Unreserved tickets
- Halt agents
- Jan Sadharan Ticket Booking Sevak (JTBS)
- Station Ticket Booking Agents (STBA)
- M-UTS Sahayaks
Reserved as well as unreserved tickets
- Yatri Tickets Suvidha Kendra Licensee (YTSKL)
In addition, Indian Railway Catering & Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) engages E-ticketing agents for issuing reserved e-tickets.
There is no condition for having experience in issuing railway tickets for getting engaged as Halt agent, JTBS, STBA and M-UTS Sahayak. As such, these schemes are open to eligible individuals, including educated unemployed youth and hence promote self-employment and improve access to railway ticketing facilities, especially in rural and semi-urban areas. Since, in addition to unreserved tickets, YTSKLs also issue reserved tickets, which require a basic understanding of Railway Ticketing, for YTSKLs, a minimum of 02 years’ experience in Railway Ticketing is required.
Agents are appointed for a fixed tenure in accordance with the scheme’s terms and conditions and may be terminated for any breach of those terms. Renewal of appointments and the invitation of fresh applications upon expiry of tenure is a continuous and ongoing process.
This information was provided by the Union Minister for Railways, Information & Broadcasting and Electronics & Information Technology, Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw, in a reply to questions in Lok Sabha.
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