Booking rail tickets from abroad- a Beginner's Guide

ramhegde

From http://www.irctc.co.in/ i always book E-ticket instead of paper ticket.Cancellation is easy in E-ticket(money deposited back to your bank directly) & no courier of paper ticket is needed. Only your identitiy proof is needed (Ex: Passport) along with the print of the ticket.

s.seifert

I want to go from Jhansi to Bhopal.

Which train can you recommend? Is there one that is not coming from to far away and therefore maybe not be delayed too much?

Thanks for your help!

steven_ber

Use the Bhopal Shatabdi, it is a very fast train (fastest in India I think) and should be very reliable.

It starts it's journey in Delhi and is a very popular train for taking people to Agra, so should have plenty of seats available for other sections of it's journey.

The Shatabdi (Train number 2002) departs Jhansi at about 11:00 and gets to Bhopal at about 14:00, it has air con chair class (CC) and Executive Chair Class (ECC, but you'll see 1A when you try to book)

CC costs Rs 495
ECC costs Rs 925

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Haylo

I'll be in Delhi for a month from the end of October, during that time we're thinking about going to Jaisalmer - which means... TRAIN!

To be honest the whole thing is bewildering so although I have done my best to search for answers, I could still do with some help.

I've been initially looking at leaving on the weekend of 1st November and returning the following weekend, my preference would be 2AC. Actually my preference would be teleportation! I am the world's worse traveller, I get ill before the train even leaves the station so I'd be medicated and unconcious for most of the journey. Fortunately I'd have the lovely dukkha to drag me off the train on arrival!

Anyway, to my questions, sorry there are so many...

1. I found the seating layouts which were posted, but how do I know whether it's broad or narrow or whichever gauge?

2. When I book a ticket, given how useless a traveller I am, what's the best berth for me to request?

3. What's to prevent me from booking tickets for two or even three journeys, and cancelling the ones I don't want?

4. I noticed that while there are various numbers of tickets available, and some are already waitlisted, the Taktal quota looks as if it still has exactly 2 for every day. Can that be right?

5. On a previous thread I read that the "Foreign Tourist Quota (FTQ can't be booked on-line)" is that the same as the Taktal quota and if so, am I right in thinking that I can't book a Taktal ticket online?

6. For 1st Nov 2008, Train No 4050 is currently WL 4/WL 4, the most seats on future dates I've managed to find is 17 if that helps. What are the chances of getting a WL 4 confirmed?

7. If (5 = Yes) and (6 = No way), am I right in thinking that if we decide to do this, and if dukkha goes to the station, he could just buy Taktal tickets there?

8. This sounds really obvious, but I can't figure it out. If we wanted to do the journey in two parts, for instance to stop off somewhere (no idea where yet) for a day on the way back, how can we find out where else this train stops?

machadinha

Oh, Haylo... take it easy, take a deep breath, and you'll get there alright

Um, where does one begin. Let's see:

I dunno. You'd think some railways sites might specify it somewhere (find some of the usual suspects in the "travel links" link in my sig[nature]). It sounds like you think the two are related? Gauge just refers to the width of the railway tracks, I think Britain and certainly parts of Europe used to have different ones for sure, not long ago. On narrower gauges, trains will go slower (lest they get derailed); carriages may have different dimensions, but I'm not aware they'd be enough so for you to notice.

Many different opinions here, hard to answer just like that. Many tourists will go for an upper berth, so you can lie down during the day. Funny enough, many Indian passengers seem to *not* opt for them, one assumes they consider them inferior as one has to climb up there. Note that one can specify one's preference, but it doesn't guarantee that's what you'll get, it depends on availability. Given enough train travel there, you'll get a taste of all berths; I found they all have their pros and cons.

Nothing, except there's a limit to how many rides you can book over a given period. The system helps explain why those waitlists only start really moving at the last minute, as many people will do just this.

I don't know the details of it so well, but the Tatkal quota is for emergency booking of otherwise taken seats. It's more pricy'ish than any other quota, presumably for that reason. So it's not related as such to any other availability or waitlists you can otherwise see I don't think, no.

The latter question I don't know. The Foreigner's/Tourist Quota is indeed a different thing, i.e., a different quota.

Probably, yes, in fact this might be easiest on both of you. Note that neither quota is limitless: Once the quota is taken up, it's gone, period. That's why it's called a quota It just refers to a definitive number of seats reserved in advance for specific purposes, i.e., foreign tourists, Tatkal reservations, and a number of other categories.

Some of those same railway sites will show you a train's entire route under an applicable button. I may be back on it later, or someone else might.

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steven_ber

Depends where it was posted, but most seating arrangements on the net are wrong, the only seating arrangements provided by Indian Railways were incorrect, and these are the ones that have been copied all over the Internet, including on this website.

Below is the seating arrangement for Sleeper Class (broad gauge), remove seats 2, 5, 10, 13 9and so on, and also remove the whole of the last section (seats 65-72) and 2 seats from the previous section (60 & 62), you then have the 46 seats of 2-tier air con.




No idea, how will seat location affect your journey?

Nothing if you're not planning to buy loads more tickets for other journeys, just remember the cancellation charges.

You can't buy tatkal tickets till 6 days before the journey date, so 7 days before the availability will be 2, and 83 days before, the availability will be 2. (only 2 berths in 2A for Tatkal quota)

Tatkal bookings do not tuse 'otherwise taken' seats, they have their own place, and any unused Tatkal seats will be used to reduce the general waitlist.

Tatkal quota tickets can be booked online, but only from 08:00 (IST) 6 days before the train begins it's journey.

You mean 4059.

Go for it, I'd say you've got a good chance of the berths becoming confirmed, I can count 31 of the 46 berths, the others will be used for 'unknown quotas' (Handicapped, government, rail employees and many others), but any of these tickets remain unsold, and the berths will be used to reduce the waitlist.


Try www.erail.in

Search for Delhi to Jaisalmer, then click on the train number and the train's schedule will be shown below.

Jaipur or Jodhpur are options, but you could also use different trains and go to Bikaner on the way back.

Haylo

One of your old threads actually! You gave different diagrams for 1 meter and broad gauge seating plans, and I wondered which I should be looking at.

The one you just posted is much clearer, it finally makes sense, thanks.

It would help a great deal if I was next to a window, facing the direction of travel. By the looks of it, if we both got side window seats we'd be guaranteed one facing direction of travel?

So that explains why there are 2 left for every journey.

Thanks for the advice.

Hadn't thought of using different trains.

Mary Poppins

Hello...

Today I decided I would try my hand at booking some of my rail tickets for my December trip to India. I thought I was prepared, having read through this thread and many others on the forum carefully. Nothing could have prepared me for this

The problem appears to be two-fold. The first is 'Verified by Visa'. I'm not sure if anyone else has experienced the horror that is VbV but anyway - it keeps unenrolling me, and then not allowing me to enrol again. Painful.

However, even when VbV is deigning to work - I've now had 6 error messages from the IRCTC website of two different types. I've tried using the different gateways available - I have an australian anz visa debit card. I've also contacted my bank and there are no restrictions on my account at all.

The error messages are below:

Dear Customer,

We regret that the booking of your ticket could not be processed at this time as the transaction with ref. No. 0069139815 was not authorised by your bankers. The failure may also be due to some sort of inadequacies in your card / bank account.

You may kindly try using another valid card / account.

However, before proceeding further, we suggest that you kindly check from your 'Booked tickets' history if transaction has already been booked by you.

In case of any problem, you are welcome to contact us at 24*7 Hrs. Customer Support at 011-23340000, MON - SAT(10 AM - 6 PM) 011 - 23345500/ 4787/ 4773/ 5800/ 8539/ 8543 , Fax No. 23345900, Chennai Customer Care 044 - 25300000 or mail us at care@irctc.co.in. We will be glad to help you out in solving any such problem encountered during booking your ticket.

We solicit your continued patronage to our services; offering our best services always.

*****

Dear Customer,

We deeply regret that this reservation (reference no.0069152735) requested by you did not materialize as the Communication Problem. Kindly retry the booking if you have not been able to complete your booking yet. We apologize for the inconvenience caused to you. If the amount was Debited from your Account,We shall be making the refund back to your account shortly and it will start reflecting in your bank statement in 3 to 4 working days.

For any problem please contact us at 24*7 Hrs. Customer Support at 011-23340000 , MON - SAT(10 AM - 6 PM) 011-23345500/4787/4773/5800/8539/8543 , Fax no. 011-23345900 , Chennai Customer Care No. 044-25300000 or mail us at care@irctc.co.in

We will be glad to assist you in every way so that you do not have any inconvenience in future.

We solicit your continued patronage to our services.




I wanted to see if anyone else had had similar problems? I'm hoping that it's all tied up to the stupid Verified by Visa thing and when that gets fixed it will all resolve, because I feel as if I'm doing everything else right. It seems to give many different errors on the website when the transaction fails. I will keep trying though

somsathi

when i was trying to book my ticket, even i faced the same problem with payment gateways at 5:30 pm(IST), there might be some problem with the server, but at 20:10 PM(IST) i have had booked tickets to Trivandrum from hyderabad.

vinnyt72

I was having a similar (ish) problem when booking my tickets a month or so ago. I'd get to the end of the (laborious) process only to have the error message pop up saying the booking could not be confirmed. I think this is because of the payment gateway I was using. I tried with a few different ones, and eventually found one that worked...

goatfarmer

I've been having a similar problem booking at the Maharastra Tourist Development Council Guest House in Aurangabad. The system fails at the Verified by Visa stage. Another member has had the same problem trying to book at the same place. I don't know what the answer is. Try flying. Travelocity.co.in works wonders for booking domestic flights.

Nick-H

There are people who say it always works for them --- but there are people who say that about Windows Vista!

However, most of us have problems with at least some of the bookings that we make, causing me to christen the site Stinking Heap of Steaming Doggy Dung. Just makes me feel better shouting that it it.

Do try different 'gateways' for your credit card; people have reported the Axis Bank gateway working well recently.

Mary Poppins

Ok cool thanks everyone for your encouragement, and I'm glad, in some perverse way that my problems are "normal"

Grantaustralia

Mary
I use the axis gateway and it works well. I also get the Verified by Visa screen (Teachers credit union card)even though I don't remember selecting this service. I let it move to the second VbV screen and then hit the cancel button below the login and the transaction proceeds as normal.

Grant

bruce3404

Axis has worked for me everytime over roughly 10 sessions.