Are You Fully Updated on The Newly Revamped Online Seat Reservation System for Sri Lanka Railways?

With technological advancement, numerous countries worldwide have adopted online systems to reduce public inconveniences. Such proper methods not only enhance transparency but also diminish irregularities, ensuring accessibility to relevant services from any location by furnishing requisite information.

Parallel to this trend, the Railway Department of Sri Lanka has implemented a newly revamped online system for train seat allocation. Our investigation at Fact Crescendo delves into the misinformation circulating about this system.

Social Media Posts:

Numerous social media posts allege that train seat reservations are exclusively conducted online. Additionally, some posts suggest that people unfamiliar with online booking will not be able to travel on the train.

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As a result, many individuals assumed this new system would inconvenience those unfamiliar with the online reservation system.

Moreover, during a recent press conference, Mr Chandana Suriyarachchi, Deputy Secretary of the National Trade Union Center, highlighted that the implementation of online seat allocation, the free railway license (Railway Warrant) available to the government servants would be abolished or curtailed to limit and the government employees may have to pay between 5%-17% charges while booking seats online even with a railway warrant.

Below is the video.

We took steps to investigate this matter based on the requests we received to reveal the accuracy of the above facts.

Fact Check :

The Railways Department has launched the process of train tickets and seat reservations only through the online system from 14th March. Media reports on this can be read here and here.

However, we couldn’t find any reports in any mainstream media about the abolition of the free train warrants for government employees. Upon examining the railway department's railway seat reservation system, we discovered that a mechanism had been implemented in the same system to facilitate government employees or pensioners who hold a railway warrant.

It appears that government employees or retired government employees who are entitled to railway warrants need to acquire the Warrant beforehand. Seats can then be reserved by entering the relevant details along with travel details and personal information.

The terms and conditions also did not mention that railway permit holders would be charged a service charge for seat reservations. The terms and conditions can be read here.

SLT Mobitel

We also spoke with Mobitel's project officer about the new online railway seat reservation system. He verified that government employees will not be charged for reserving railway warrants.

However, as of now, it is not possible for government employees who are entitled to a railway warrant to directly obtain a train ticket. This limitation arises because a comprehensive online system for acquiring warrant information and related confirmations for all government employees is not yet operational.

Therefore, the current hybrid model involves acquiring a railway warrant through approved methods, such as approval from the relevant government institution or Divisional Secretary. Subsequently, a temporary seat reservation would be made by entering the passenger's additional travel details into the Railway Department's online seat reservation system, as shown above.

In order to confirm the booking and get a train ticket, the warrant holder needs to produce the original warrant and ID details during the stipulated period by visiting a designated railway station. There, the warrant, along with the allotment details, will be confirmed. Only after such steps will a ticket be allocated for warrant holders.

The Ministry of Transport explains more details in this video.

Mobitel has clarified that introducing such a system aims to address the issue of Warrant holders missing out on seat reservations because of the pre-booking of 100% of tickets through the new system.

Furthermore, with the new online system, neither the railway department nor the government imposes any charges. However, Mobitel will levy a convenience fee of 5% for passengers who use this system, similar to the previous online system. Additionally, the project officer at Mobitel clarified that the option to obtain the ticket from the respective railway station after paying only the train ticket fee remains unchanged.

Deputy General Manager of the Railway

During our inquiry, Railway Deputy General Manager Mr N.J.Idipolage stated that the railway department had facilitated the provision for government employees to reserve tickets with this new system. He clarified that no decision had been made to impose charges for these reservations, and any rumours suggesting otherwise are untrue.

Explaining further about the new online train ticket system, he noted that previously, only 40% of the seats were reserved via the online system, with the remaining percentage of tickets being available at railway stations where customers could visit and manually make the reservations.

All train seat reservations (100%) are conducted online, meaning that even the bookings made by the railway station’s booking agent are also linked to the same online system. As a result, the available seats can be seen in real time.

To access the Railway Department seat reservation system:

https://seatreservation.railway.gov.lk/mtktwebslr/

We have also verified that SLT Mobitel charges a 5% surcharge on ticket prices for the online booking system. For instance, if a second-class ticket from Colombo to Kandy is priced at Rs. 1000, an additional Rs. 50 is charged, making the total fee Rs. 1050.

Furthermore, it's worth noting that the maximum number of seats that can be reserved per person through the online system is limited to 05 seats. Additionally, the General Manager of Railways mentioned that individuals requiring more seats can utilise a system for seat allocation by contacting the Railway Department.

Another important point to note is that under the previous online ticketing system, passengers were required to obtain a physical ticket from the railway station after seat allocation. However, with this new system, passengers receive an electronic ticket with a QR symbol on their phone after seat allocation. This electronic ticket can be used as a regular train ticket.

Click here to access the guidelines for railway seat reservation, which cover information on railway stations equipped with seat reservation facilities, train services offering reserved seats, instructions on making payments through the system, etc.

Mr Idipolage, the Deputy General Manager of Railways, noted that seats could also be reserved via the dedicated mobile phone application linked to the Railway Department's website.

Passengers can now reserve seats by dialling 365 on Mobitel, Hutch, and Airtel mobile phone services and 444 on Dialog. SLT subscribers can dial 1265 with the applicable service charge.