Representatives of Vietnam Railways and FPT sign a contract for an electronic booking system in Ha Noi.— Photo VNS

HA NOI (Biz Hub) — Vietnam Railways (VNR) and the Corporation for Financing and Promoting Technology Corporation (FPT) signed a contract for an electronic booking system for VNR in Ha Noi on July 31.

The US$9.3-million project will be completed in three stages over a period of seven years.

In the first stage, FPT will install the electronic booking system within 120 days of the date of signing of the agreement.

In the second stage, electronic tickets will be sold on the website for a year to serve the demands for Tet holiday 2015, starting from November 21 of this year.

In the final stage, the system will be installed at all stations in the country over six years, starting from November 21, 2015.

According to VNR's CEO Tran Ngoc Thanh, the electronic booking system aims to improve the quality of service and provide passengers with flexible adjustment of ticket prices depending on the route and duration of the journey, and increase the demand for railway transportation.

The system provides customers with all information about trains and publishes the availability of tickets, especially on holidays and special occasions.

The online tickets can be purchased anytime and anywhere, through various means including messages, emails, electronic boards, smartphones and tablets.

Commuters can use domestic and international credit cards to make their payments.

The system also calculates the number of bookings and passengers, and helps VNR develop appropriate business tactics to meet the demand and improve the business efficiency and quality of available railway infrastructure.

The contract says that VNR is capable of using the electronic booking system to sell tickets.

FPT is responsible for establishing the system and will make profit from a part of the ticket sales that will be given by VNR.

"The electronic booking system helps passengers to buy tickets easily with only a smartphone or a tablet. This is also an essential improvement for VNR to regain its position in the national transportation system," said Thanh.

"The co-operation between VNR and FPT will make a significant improvement by applying information technology to VNR's operations, raise its efficiency and credibility among customers, and support the company to make a great contribution to the development of the country," Chairman of Board of Directors of FPT Trương Gia Binh said. — VNS