The Hindu : Kerala News : Train services: IRCTC to open call centres in four metros

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Aug 18, 2006

Kerala

Kerala

Train services: IRCTC to open call centres in four metros

Staff Reporter

800 personnel for providing information to passengers

KOCHI: The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) plans to open call centres in the four metros of the country, to answer train enquiries.

IRCTC Joint General Manager J. Vinayan said details like train timings, arrival/departure information, current location of a train, ticket position (PNR status), tourism packages of the Corporation etc., can be known from the centres.

"Eight hundred personnel will be deployed in the call centres to answer passenger queries. Details can be known at the click of a button, using the Integrated Train Enquiry System. The centres will be a public-private participation venture," he said.

The Corporation will work in coordination with the Centre for Railway Information System (CRIS), for effective functioning of the call centres. The Corporation will carry out the business part and CRIS the technology part.

The tender to set up the centres will be awarded by the end of September. They will be ready in five months. Railways went in for this system since the present enquiry numbers (131, 132 etc.) are often overloaded and ineffective, when compared to the huge demand for trains as a mode of transport.

"The single-bidder or a consortium will be in charge of the centres. The employees of the centres will be trained and supervised by the IRCTC. With this in mind, the Corporation will soon set up a central monitoring centre, most likely in New Delhi."

People from any part of the country will be able to access the service at the cost of a local call. The rates for basic enquiry services and premium ones (eg: the train between point A and point B) will differ. The IRCTC's value-added services like home delivery of tickets, booking hotel rooms and taxis and so on too can be availed. The Corporation will soon tie up with hotels and travel companies, for helping out passengers, Mr. Vinayan said.

The call centres will have both interactive voice response system and manned telephones. The automated speech recognition system too will be made available, so that people can communicate in the language of their choice.

The IRCTC has been doing commendable work in bettering catering service in trains and railway stations. It is also into tourism promotion. The internet-ticketing project of the Corporation, launched four years ago, is the biggest B2C (business to customer) e-commerce site in the country today. It sells 15,000 tickets daily, worth Rs.2 crores.

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