Now, Virtual Tickets accepted by Indian Railways – No need of physical printouts!

It is nice to see that Indian Railways is making life easier for Railway commuters – as well as for our environment. Imagine the number of trees that would have been needed to cut just for the Ticket Reservation printouts that lakhs of consumers carry on daily basis when they set-off on Indian Railways journey.�

According to the announcement on IRCTC website – Commuters can now carry their Electronic Reservation Slip (ERS) virtually. What this essentially means is you can just show a screenshot of your e-ticket on any device and it will be treated as Valid.

Indian Railways calls it "Virtual Reservation Message" or VRM. So, if you have a mobile with camera that should be enough to create a VRM. Book your ticket online, take a snapshot using your mobile camera of the e-ticket and show it to Ticket Checker along with your Valid Identity Proof.

If you are carrying a Smartphone, it is even easier – you can login to internet and show your e-ticket itself!

Couple of months back, Indian Railways had also announced that it will launching a Mobile applicationthat will make it possible for commuters to book the tickets on mobile itself.  Once booked, the SMS sent out by the app will serve as a ticket itself and can be shown to the Ticket Checker along with your personal identification!

Personally, I am super-delighted with this development like millions of other Indian Railway Commuters. I travel Pune-Mumbai quite frequently on Deccan Queen. It has always been a pain carrying a printout. But now with a mobile in my hand I don't have to worry at all!

Have you taken advantage of this "Virtual Reservation Message" or VRM already? If not, you should for your next train journey!

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