Hon (Dr.) Bandula Gunawardena, the Minister of Transport, Highways and Mass Media, launched an enhanced system to issue electronic train tickets and electronic train warrants (E-Ticket & E-Warrant) for the first time in Sri Lanka, recently at the Colombo Fort railway station premises.
This is a collaborative initiative of Sri Lanka Railways with Sri Lanka Mobitel, which went live on 14th March evening at the Colombo Fort Railway premises.
Regular train’s passengers and tourists will have the convenience of purchasing their tickets through this new online system. Once booked, the passengers will be able to use the electronic ticket which comes with a QR code as a normal train ticket. Therefore, it is expected that inconveniences of visiting railway stations and booking tickets will be no more with the commencement of this new system.
Another new service of this initiative is the facility to electronically reserve the seats for railway warrants for government servants and pensioners.
With this new system, passengers will have the opportunity to book their tickets online at any time or by visiting a railway station with an M-Ticketing facility.
With the introduction of this new e-ticketing system and e-warrants system, tourists and passengers will experience a great convenience and a faster service delivery. It is also expected that, this new initiative will contribute to boost the national economy by way of support to the revival of the tourism industry, which faced multiple challenges during the last couple of years.
Eng. Ranjith Ganganath Rubasinghe, Secretary of the Ministry of Transport and Highways, Mr. Pradeep Yasarathna, Secretary of the Ministry of Public Administration, Home Affairs, Provincial Councils and Local Government, Dr. Sulaksha Jayawardena, Secretary of the Ministry of Power and Energy, Mr. H. M.P. B. Herath, Secretary of the Ministry of Tourism and Lands, Mr. Janaka Abeysinghe, Chief Executive Officer of Sri Lanka Telecom, Mr. Sudarshana Geeganage, Chief Operating Officer of Mobitel, senior management of the Ministry of Transport and Highways, Mr. H. M. K. W. Bandara, General Manager of Sri Lanka Railways along with the officials of Sri Lanka Railways and many other government officials participated for this occasion.