Train timetables, crop prices now through GovSMS

Sri Lanka's GovSMS platform, a short code (1919) offered across a "majority" of local GSM and CDMA networks which enables access to government information, recently rolled out its first two services, train timetables and crop prices; according to a statement by the country's Information and Communication Technology Agency.

While the request SMS to get the train schedule from Colombo Fort to Ambalangoda (for example) would be 'SLRD TRAIN FOT ABA', the reply would come as 'Train from Fort to Ambalangoda 16:45:00hrs 17:24:00hrs'. Crop price information:-AGRI PRC <Crop code>. Example: Here while the request SMS to get the price of the beans would be 'AGRI PRC BNS', the reply would be 'Bean-Dambulla-50.00'". In addition, a full list of relevant key words and SMS formats is available www.gic.lk.