Passengers planning to travel with the Indian Railways will now find it easier to make a reservation. The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) has initiated a service that allows the person to make reservation of tickets through the official chatbot.
Indian Railways, in October 2018, launched an AI-powered chatbot named AskDisha, where Disha stands for Digital Interaction to Seek Help Anytime. During the time of the launch, the essential features of AskDisha was to offer improved assistance to the customers. These included query resolution and customer support for the passengers.
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Using the chatbot will also allow the passengers to make reservations for their specific destinations. By making reservations through chatbot, customers will be able to save themselves from the hassle of visiting the IRCTC website or using the application. As per the data, more than 10 lakh people visit the IRCTC website on a daily basis.
This enormous number excludes the passengers who physically book the tickets from the railway stations.
The amount for making the reservation will reflect the same service charge as the website. If a passenger is paying through UPI, IRCTC will charge Rs 10 more for the sleeper class and Rs 15 more for the AC berths. If paying through any other payment options, the Indian Railways will charge Rs 20 extra for sleeper class and Rs 30 extra for AC class.
This is one of the many initiatives that the Indian Railways has taken to ease the experience for the customers. Among the lot is another recently activated feature that allows railway passengers to order food via WhatsApp. Using the feature, a passenger can get food delivered to their berths from across five hundred railway stations.
