SLR with SLT-Mobitel launches online seat reservation website, mobile app

Minister of Transport, Dilum Amunugama launching the SLT-Mobitel powered Sri Lanka Railways Web Portal and Mobile App, accompanied by Chief Marketing Officer of Mobitel (Pvt) Ltd, Shashika Senarath; Secretary to the Ministry of Transportation, Monty Ranatunga; General Manager of Sri Lanka Railways, Dhammika Jayasundara, and Deputy General Manager Commercial Sri Lanka Railways, V. S. Polwattage 

As the technology partner for Sri Lanka Railways (SLR) for over a decade, SLT-Mobitel together with Sri Lanka Railways (SLR) marked a significant milestone on March 21, with the launch of the online seat reservation web portal and mobile app for commuters, for the first time in Sri Lanka. 

The latest cutting-edge system offers commuters the opportunity to reserve seats online via https://seatreservation.railway.gov.lk  or through the Sri Lanka Railways Reservation Mobile App. 

As the national transport service provider, Sri Lanka Railways strives to provide a better travel experience for the railway commuters, and the launch of the ‘Online Seat Reservation System’ in collaboration with SLT-Mobitel further reaffirms the strategic direction of Sri Lanka Railways in offering cutting-edge technology led travel services. 

SLT-Mobitel Mobile was the first ever service provider to create a National Scale Railway Ticket Reservation Platform in 2009. The new service will enable the public to make their train reservations at anytime from anywhere in the world, revolutionising the travel experience in Sri Lanka.

Railway passengers experienced automated railway ticket reservations over the phone and over the counter for the very first time when SLT- Mobitel Mobile first launched its platform, while it enabled SLR to digitalize their manual reservations process.  The automated railway ticket reservation system facilitates the reservation of trains for all routes across the island by connecting railway stations throughout Sri Lanka. The online seat reservation system has further bolstered the original system by digitalising the entire ecosystem of Sri Lanka Railways. The service has also been extended to major telco providers to provide a better service to commuters by facilitating over the phone reservation. 

This is the first time in Sri Lanka that a State-owned entity such as Sri Lanka Railways has fully embraced digitalisation of operation by incorporating the latest LANKAQR which is easy, secure, and convenient to transact and allows customers to simply book their tickets at the touch of their fingertip. 

The new Sri Lanka Railways Reservation Mobile and Web enabled extension is expected to lead SLR towards a paperless operation as the system is capable of issuing e-tickets with a QR code verification, which will soon come into practice. Commuters can make a reservation for all enabled destinations and trains, for 1st class, observation saloon, 2nd  class, and 3rd  class for both one-way and return journeys within a few simple steps. Multiple options have been made available for payment, including through Visa, MasterCard and LANKAQR.  Reserved tickets can be conveniently collected in advance from the nearest mTicketing service enabled railway station, by simply providing the ticket reference number along with the National Identity Card or Passport.