Can I book train tickets on IRCTC website using International credit card?

I am confused is it possible or not to book with a international card via IRCTC? and what kind
If can't book with IRCTC but book with Cleartrip what happens if cancel a ticket?
With IRCTC there was a 50 Rps cancellation charge per ticket and money was refunded to bank account.
We have quite often changed our plans and cancelled train tickets and ordered others instead and always money was refunded.
Many Thanks

Yes, you cannot purchase train ticket at IRCTC using an international credit/debit card (exc.American Express, I think).
You can cancell your train tickets at cleartrip.com - I've did it 5-6 times recently and every time money was refunded to my account - minus cancellation railway charge (the same as in IRCTC), cleartrip service charge (about 20 Rps per ticket, as I remember) and bank transaction fee (about 1.5-1.8 percent).

Hi everybody, I've been checking out all this info for weeks waiting for the 90 day lead time to book my tickets on line.

Here are my findings from my recent personal experience regarding booking of train tickets with International Credit Cards.

IRCTC booking site: I was not able to pay with Visa or Mastercard for tickets through any gateway (though two years ago I did this easily). The information for Citibank and HDFC bank gateways say you can use any card from any bank. This is not true. I used a NEW "verified by Visa" secure code Visa with no success. My bank confirmed that they did not receive any attempt to charge on my card.I emailed IRCTC and they confirmed you cannot pay with Visa or Mastercard. You can pay ONLY with American Express Card. I was successful with my AMEX card.

[B]American Express Card[/B]: You can apply for an AMEX CLEAR card (NO fees)online if you have good credit. Approval is instant and it takes a week or two to get to you. CAUTION: Before you attempt to book make sure you contact AMEX and advise that you will be making charges in India. If you do not, they may block the purchase, thinking it is an unauthorized use.

If you want to use Visa or MasterCard, book on Cleartrip.com. The site can be a bit slow but I receive my e-ticket quickly by e-mail. Be aware that Cleartrip charges a bit more. On a 2,000 rupee ticket purchase I payed about a 100 rupee more than the cost on IRCTC site.

I know that this can sometimes be frustrating, especialy as sometimes the sites have problems not caused by the card, and it's difficult to know why it's not working.

I hope this is useful.

I confirm that Cleartrip.com accepts UK Credit Cards after hours of trying to book with IRCTC.

Thanks everyone for the info, Good Job, keep up the good work.

Thanks

Paul & Elaine

TThanks to all contributors on this subject.

My son and I came to India earlier this year and we are coming again in February 2011 and wanted to book my rail travel. Last year we booked OK on-line with IRCTC using my UK Credit Card (MasterCard) with no problem, that was after contacting IRCTC to find out why my payment was not accepted on the first two payment gateways and I was advised to use a particular one.

So yesterday tried to book again using the same gateway without any success. Tried the other three Credit Card gateways without success. No I find that I have to have an Amex Card as the only international card.

Why can't IRCTC say that only AMEX is acceptable as the international credit card up-front on their booking website?

I will now try Cleartrip to book. Am I being cynical if I think that maybe someone in IRCTC has an interest in Cleartrip?

If India is trying to increase its presence on the world stage both economically and politically then why make it difficult for the world to come and visit?

Merry Christmas to all!

Jim

Hi Trubmij,

It's more likely that the payment gateways that IRCTC uses, run by financial institutions like ICICI bank, have very conservative security policies that restrict use of international credit cards due to common fear of credit card fraud. I have similar problems using an international Mastercard to buy tickets from Kingfisher Airlines, which uses the ICICI bank payment gateway.

IRCTC probably does not have direct control over these security policies (apart from choosing which gateways they use).

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Use cleartrip, far more user friendly website.

Thanks to all for their comments. I have now booked all my train journeys for our stay in India.
Used ClearTrip, no problems.
Regards
Trubmij

After days of IRCTC hassle I used Cleartrip and didn't even take 5 minutes. It's the way to go absolutely, thanks for the info IM'ers.

LJ

Yes the only way for us non indian ACC holders

Dear Customer,
With regard to your mail, we wish to inform you that the facility to use
international card for making payment is not available.
Only American express bank?s credit card can be used through Amex Payment Gateway.

I enquired about this subject (having successfully booked train tickets last year though the Axis gateway) but was told it was AMEX only for international. No Visa or Mastercard unfortunately, which I do find rather strange....wake up IRCTC!!!
I will be booking some tickets and will try out cleartrip. Thanks for the tip-off on that one.

hi,

I've used the IRCTC website quite a few times before and used international credit cards and never had any difficulty. this year I used cleatrip as the IRCTC website seemed to indicate that international credit cards are not accepted.

was trying to book some tickets last night and the IRCTC sytem was down for maintenance. Tried again today and cleartrip were having trouble connecting to IRCTC so i thought what the heck might as well try IRCTC direct..... used Citibank gatweay as I know the ICICI gateway is shite.... My Natwest Visa Debit card is registered for 3D secure. It worked!!!
three things to keep in mind -
1. always state credit card(not debit card), i think the debit card option is for domestic customers. I think an international debit card is treated as a credit card.
2. use the citibank gateway.
3. Make sure your card is registered for 3D secure/verified by visa/mastercard securecode. make sure you remember the password. it will work even if you don't as you can provide additional data but this might complicate things a bit.

Cheers!

Interesting news. Will have to see if others have similar experience with IRCTC.

I can confirm the above. Just booked using a UK credit card. Thanks mate!