Nuts & Bolts of online registration for railway ticket booking.

At present, the content of the above link ( http://www.irctc.co.in/payment.html ) does not agree with the content of two of the following links, retrieved through the same website:

http://www.irctc.co.in/BankHelpFile/hdfc.html

http://www.irctc.co.in/BankHelpFile/citidebit.html

http://www.irctc.co.in/BankHelpFile/axispg.html

http://www.irctc.co.in/BankHelpFile/amex.html

Indian Railways to launch their own train booking website.

Railways to launch own train booking website

Hi,
I have seen one post in some other forum which is as follows. Is really beta version has this problems.

IRCTC booking query .

Here are 3 examples in which we cannot book ticket in irctc through plan my travel page.

1.I need to book 1 ticket from LJN to BPL in train number 2533 in 3ac on 11th Oct in Lower berth quota. As I am above 45 year of age and traveling alone so I am eligible for this quota and also it is showing 1 seat available . But when I am going to IRCTC it is not showing . How I can book ticket in irctc for this seat. As far as I know SS quota is available for booking in irctc. But after this beta version we are unable to go to book page in plan my travel as there is no booking link

2.why 2926A train number is not coming in irctc search when we search between NDLS to BRC . erail-IR is showing 5 seat avl for Oct 1 between NDLS to BRC in general quota . But when we go to IRCTC to book this train ticket this train is not coming under search. could some one explain why it so.

3.Why 8601 train is not coming in search in irctc when we search between NDLS to JAT
This train has AV on Oct 6 erail-IR between ndls to JAT but when we go to irctc this train is not coming at all between NDLS to JAT train list. why it so ?

I too have had numerous such instances in the last few days on irctc. Trains not showing up in search, booking option not showing, unable to book because fare could not be retreived and numerous more IF i was able to login in the First place. Dont know why?

And had similar issues with other sites that offer rail booking, May be because they all link to irctc? Can someone confirm if all the other private sites offering Rail booking link to IRCTC or to the Railway PRS directly. If it is irctc then the issues are explained, but if they link to PRS then they atleast should be working OK if irctc is having issues.

I have a feeling IRCTC may be having some issues re server.. last night I booked two tickets and the same thing happened each time. I went right through to Make Payment stage, did this perfectly o.k., but right at the end after payment successful, the booking confirmation failed to show. It looked like no computer connection i.e. the broadband computer symbols were not lighting up at all. After the first time, I left a little bit more time then tried to book a second ticket. Same thing happened.

I looked at Booking History - no evidence of tickets. Transaction history showed the booking but no PNR No. I wrote to care@irctc plus rang a number at Delhi. The money is shown as taken out from my bank account. Failed to get the tickets however.

The answer was a 'server problem' and money will be refunded back into account in three to four days.

Fortunately a friend in Delhi booked the same tickets for me, all in the space of 10 mins. on the same irctc website, with no problem at all. All very strange to me.

I was happy however to get what I wanted not long after the frustrating time with the website.

However, the website looked as if it was running normally right up to the last Make Payment process. It failed at the final stage of Ticket Confirmation and details of it.

I have a feeling IRCTC may be having some issues re server.

Server overloading. Yes it is. With many travel websites all linking to it for their booking and many people choosing to book online. And then with the railway planning its own site, irctc might have thought it either waste or premature to add server capacity.

I think your explanation is right, narendra - and it seems to be a matter of luck if you get to complete the whole process. So frustrating when you spend the time doing everything correctly, including the payment, then to come out with nothing in the end. Very lucky my friend in Delhi managed it from her end!

I might add I have never experienced a problem before like this and have been doing online bookings with them for a couple of years or so.

@Bissa
1. There might not be a lower berth available for that train. The 1 seat available would be for the other berths.
2. 2926 is the main train running from Amritsar to Mumbai. 2926A is a train from Kalka to Mumbai. If you search for train from Kalka to Vadodara you will find 2926A
3. Something similar with 8601. It joins with 8101.

I too had used it for many years without a hitch.

However in the recent past, could not even login many times, if login was successfull, then server time outs at each step of the way. A week back was so frustrated at it after atleast 30 attempts at booking, that had to give up, drive to the booking counter early in the morning and get it done.

Just hope they set things right soon. This is one pain that we can do without.

##Almost, for the past Three-and-half decades (**since 1975), I WAS going to Railway Counter to book the train tickets for me and my family.

##About three months ago, my close friend, who is a Andhra Bank employee, informed me that I can use my Andhra Bank ATM Card for booking the tickets. I tried once. The booking WAS successful. Since then I have been using this ATM Card to book the tickets and I NEVER faced any problem, including while booking a Tatkal Ticket at 8.00.03 on the opening day!!!

##However, on two occasions, after making the payment, the Journey Ticket did not show up. On both these occasions, I made a second attempt and got the tickets. The amount, which got debited for the first attempt, WAS promptly credited back into my account.

##I WAS given to understand that Credit Card Transaction consumes more time than a Debit Card Transaction. Can somebody confirm this?

Though I have never tried with a debit card, i dont think it should matter. I dont know if Debit card transactions also go thru VBV and MC Securecode. If they do, it should take the same time/trouble as the steps are the same.

VSP - I think it's all about the same time. I previously booked with a Visa Credit card (overseas bank) - no problems. Now I use my local bank where I have internet banking set up. It's a debit card, but the railways site once I click on bank takes me immediately to the internet banking site and I just do the transfer of funds from that.It's all quite fast. And overall, much of a muchness re time spent doing the money stuff.

In the last case I had already done one unsuccessful ticket, with funds taken out. Then I tried again a second time, same thing happened. By this time I didn't have enough funds to try any more times!!

I received a letter yesterday telling me funds will go back in shortly and where to check on the IRCTC site once I have logged in. It is saying 'Payment Settled' at present but still not in bank! I guess shortly I will see it in the bank website.

i have a quer regarding online booking.. hope someone can help me.

I hve used irctc website to book my ticket. the status was WL7. Now the current PNR status is confirmed (i.e. CNF).

However when i try to Print this e-Ticket using yhe "Print ERS" option, in the Booking Status/Current Status field it still shows WL7/WL7.

I am confused. Is my ticket confirmed or not? Is there a bug in the system?
Will this prinout work as a confirmed ticket?

Thanks for your help.

VK

Hi VK,
If your PNR status shows as confirmed, your ticket is confirmed. While Printing the original status may be updated.

As an update, I have continued to use Cleartrip for all my Indian rail ticket requirements. Their service has been without fault and they successfully produced a refund when I inadvertently booked tickets for the wrong train. All my tickets are now printed and as ever, I look forward to my next Indian trip in December.