Booking railway e-tickets with foreign cards

alpertonian

Hi all

I've done all my research on the indian railway site, and seat61.com, and am fully prepared with train numbers, station codes, prices, classes, etc etc, and have read lots of accounts of how easy it is to book, and equally some by people who have experienced problems.

I am fully registered and have been able to complete all the booking info no problem, but there does not seem to be an option to book using a UK issued Visa or Mastercard.

All payment attempts have so far rejected.

Can anyone tell me which payment option they have used recently, and does anyone know if this site only accepts foreign cards at times.

Thanks in advance
Trev

machadinha

The question gets asked a lot, so I'd suggest searching around some more.

For starters, if you scroll to the bottom of this page, you'll find a listing of "similar threads." Opening any of those will again feature a list of similar threads at bottom, and so on and so forth. It's an easy way to navigate the site.

There's currently someone with similar trouble, kindly read along there: etickets/itickets/waitlists

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Nick-H

You use one of the "Payment Gateways" --- I think they are CitiBank and ICICI. These will process visa or mastercard payments, even foreign ones.

If one doesn't work for you, try the other one.

The other options are for account holders at Indian banks to pay direct from their accounts.

Covered extensively already on the site.

<cross-posted with Mach>

alpertonian

Hi

Thanks for your replies.

Please don't hink this is a post due to the lack of effort searching threads and reading websites. Despite only a few posts I have been reading Indiamike avidly for a year or so, and have previously offered help to others booking domestic airfares with a UK card.

None of the payment gateway options are accepting a UK card today. I have printed the 8 page e-ticket guide from the indian railway website and the screenshot of the payment screen shows another option that is not available today. In other threads people have recommended using this one. What I am trying to establish is whether from time to time they stop accepting UK credit cards, and this option may reappeear.

The missing option at the moment is CITI PG

Thanks.
Trev

Aishah

As posted on other thread mentioned, none of the Gateways work for me - there is no solution apparently! My card is valid too - will work in and out of India for other sites but not IRCTC. I've tried all avenues to see what the problem is - and cannot get an answer either. Great that many can do this, but extremely frustrating for those of us who can't! discussing with local agent he tells me he has heard of many people who cannot complete the payment step either.

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terreneuve

yup, i'm having the same problem, too! at least 6 attempts now, and my payment always ends in a "communication failure". the payment by credit cards options are: icici pg, hdfc pg, american express. i just keep trying with the icici option.

if they think a minor convenience like this is going to keep me out of india, they've got another thing coming!...i just emailed them asking for help.

Aishah

Try every Gateway option - you might get lucky! Not me though, none of them worked. Emailing won't help but the more people do, then the more they might just tweak that site around to make it more acceptable.

Nick-H

Try every Gateway, sung by Aishah, to the tune of Climb every Mountain.

'Till you book your train....'

Seriously... I don't think we've had a report from a satisfied customer for a while. This will screw up a lot of plans. What are they doing with that site?

Aishah

Oh, very good, Nick! Now we just need some words in between... Well, they do seem to be working on it - it's different looking the last time I tried to the time before, which was why I was more hopeful. But no, same problem with credit card still.

Sarah55

I had another eight goes when the site reopened. I've now given up. I contacted the hotel I'm using for my first night in India, and they are going to try and book for me - for which I am most grateful.

Oh - and I've had no reply to the email I sent to customer services.

Aishah

Sarah - you may get a reply in the next day or so. When your attempts fail, there are automatic letters generated and they will come in the next few days! I got a personal reply one time about four days later.

karuna

Try every gateway,
try and try again,
follow Sister Aishah
til you book your train


There's a second verse, but it's less optimistic:

Use all available channels,
read every appropriate thread,
press all possible buttons,
til you lose your head

ronnyrom

I'm also experiencing the same problems that you all mention in the last step, payment...
I will do as suggested and send them an e-mail...but is the solution they propose working?

ronzesty

Attempted my 25th try this morning. Got to a new stage of the gateway attempt: my visa card asked for more verification! However, after submitting all the information it still had a communication failure

Aishah

LOL Karuna!! How about this for another verse:
Try every Gateway
Follow every screen
Fill in all directions
Til you book your train! ('screen' and 'train' almost rhyme!)
Doesn't look like anyone's having any luck unfortunately.