From February, Book KTX Tickets Directly on 'Naver' and 'KakaoT' Apps

Reservation Possible Without 'KorailTalk' or Railway Membership... Strengthening Contactless Services

[Asia Economy Reporter Kangwook Cho] Korea Railroad Corporation (KORAIL) announced on the 31st that starting from next month on the 1st, train ticket reservation services for KTX and other trains will also be available on the ‘Naver’ and ‘KakaoT’ apps.

The service will open at 10 a.m. on February 1st. Accordingly, the ticket reservation service, which had been provided through the mobile app ‘KORAIL Talk,’ will be expanded to include the ‘Naver,’ ‘Naver Map,’ and ‘KakaoT’ apps.

Users who are members of Naver or KakaoT can purchase train tickets directly through these apps even if they are not railroad members or do not have the KORAIL Talk app.

Considering that most users remain logged in on the Naver and KakaoT apps, non-railroad members will be able to easily issue online train tickets without separate registration procedures or app installation, which is expected to further enhance the convenience of contactless railroad services.

Naver’s train ticket reservation service is provided through the ‘Naver’ and ‘Naver Map’ apps.

By entering keywords related to train ticket reservations such as ‘KTX’ or ‘train ticket booking’ in the search bar of the Naver app, the ticket reservation screen will appear. Users can set departure and arrival stations, check train timetables, select seats, and make payments. Issued tickets can be checked in the ‘My Reservations’ menu within the Naver app.

A new ‘Train Inquiry & Booking’ menu has been added to the ‘Naver Map’ app. By clicking the full menu (?) and selecting ‘Train Inquiry & Booking,’ users can access the ticket reservation screen.

Kakao’s train ticket reservation service is provided through the ‘KakaoT’ app.

By accessing the newly added ‘Train’ menu on the main screen of the KakaoT app, users can make ticket reservations. After searching based on departure and arrival locations, the app recommends the optimal railroad route and leads users to the ticket reservation screen. Issued tickets can be checked in the ‘Services Used’ menu.

Through the ‘KORAIL AlimTalk’ channel on the KakaoTalk app, users can move to the ticket reservation screen of the KakaoT app. A service to reserve tickets directly within KakaoTalk is also being prepared.

KORAIL plans to further expand contactless services to enable users to book trains in the most convenient way possible.

Although the proportion of online ticket issuance through the website or KORAIL Talk has been increasing every year, still one in five passengers purchases tickets offline at railroad station ticket counters or automatic vending machines.

In particular, while about 95% of railroad members use online ticketing, over 80% of non-members purchase tickets offline.

To improve this, the contactless ticket reservation system is being expanded so that non-railroad members can purchase tickets on familiar online platforms they already use.

Son Byung-seok, President of Korea Railroad, said, “We will strengthen collaboration with widely used platforms like Naver and Kakao to enhance convenience for railroad users and continuously expand contactless online services.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.