Considering barring private agents from booking train tickets: Goyal

Railway Minister Piyush Goyal said on Friday that he is considering barring private vendors and agents from booking train tickets for passengers, noting they are no longer needed when tickets can booked by anyone on a mobile.

Replying in Lok Sabha to a discussion on the demand for grants of the Railway Ministry, he spoke about his ministry's crackdown on touts, noting that 5,300 of them, who sold train tickets in black market, were arrested in the last one year and two months. As many as 884 booking vendors were also blacklisted.

"I think vendors and private agents are not needed," he said, adding that he was considering barring them.

Those who need help in buying tickets can go to "common service centres" which are run by government, he said.

He said it was often seen that train tickets were sold out soon after their booking began, prompting the ministry to launch a crackdown following investigation.

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.

"I will request everybody to not fall prey to those claiming to provide guaranteed tickets," he said.