Solving problems with IRCTC/Cleartrip registration

After a careful series of tests, I found the culprit. This is the problem - https: //www.irctc.co.in/cgi-bin/bv60.dll

You have faith on DLLs !!!!!!!!!!!!!

you guys seem pretty knowledgeable about India travel, just too bad I hadn't found this site earlier. After reading some threads I know I'm pretty much outa luck, but here's my problem. My wife and decided to travel to India when I returned to Saigon, VN last Tues. i had been down with some kind of flu bug while back in the states and had suffered internet loss for 5 days due to a snow storm in N. Michigan. Anyway, didn't think I'd have a problem catching a train to Agra from Delhi. Wrong thinking. I'm finding there's no such thing as a quick way to book a train ticket. Since we are flying out from Saigon tomorrow morning, is my best bet to go to the train station in New Delhi and try to get a couple tourist seats? I'm also considering signing up for a 4 day Taj Mahal tour that will take us last minute. I have a cancelable hotel reservation in Agra so that's a real possibility if they haven't filled up yet. But hope to get advise from you expert in India travels.

Apart from trains, there are tourist buses that go frequently to Agra from Delhi. You could try that option too. One can also take a private car with driver which runs at about Rs10/km with a 250 km/per day minimum. So give or take about 6000 Rs (USD 120) for an overnight trip to Agra with your own personal car with driver.

I have no idea what this means, can you elaborate? Is that the version of the website I should be using? Please let me know if you have indeed figured it out!

If Oneiric Ocelot, OS X, Ubuntu, Lion, Mach Kernel, Linux Clusters does not ring a bell; You should keep using the website you are comfortable with. If all of the above does mean something, still use the same website; atleast your pain is eased a bit knowing what DLLs are

So if the DLL is the issue, do you know of a workaround? When speaking with amex, they are saying the payment is all good from their end, and has been sent, but that there is a problem with the merchant.

I'm very close to giving up on this. Have been trying for six weeks and keep getting useless replies from both Cleartrip and IRCTC. They ignore any suggestions that this process is flawed. Arriving in India in seven days and expect I will need to book tickets on the ground probably through an intermediary with commission.......this sucks

Well, after having a rant about this yesterday, I have received an email today from the WS Team at IRCTC with fresh OTP's.

Using the link provided in post #168 I have finally been able to activate my Cleartrip account to book trains

I'm now on the waitlist for the train I needed but am hopeful I will get the berth I require.

Much obliged to everyone who has provided experiences and information on this thread.

p.s. for anyone still having difficulties, you could try this email address - wsoperations@irctc.co.in

All of the information was very helpful but I finally got mine done by using a cell phone of my colleague in India.

I was then able to log directly on www.irctc.co.in and book my trains.

The final issue that I had to deal with is that they only accept Visa/Mastercard from a limited amount of banks.

I was able to use AMEX.

Be sure to contact AMEX (or Visa/MC) and tell them you plan to use the card on an foreign website... My transaction failed 3 times with a non-descript error before I called AMEX and then it went through ok.

I hope this helps!
-James

seat61 workaround?
get an AMEX and book via IRCTC?
ask my indian friend in india to play secretary and book my tickets?

i've had success with the seat61 workaround, i followed it step by step. problem - all the trains are 100+ waitlist, great!

i had immediate success using this e-mail address for my SMS OTP request:

wsoperations@irctc.co.in

thankyou!

The problem is clearly with Cleartrip & not the IRCTC. I just managed to register a new account thanks to a work colleague who has a friend in India.

I got my email & mobile OTP, clicked on the verification link and entered all the details. Eventually it said my account was active. Great I thought, so I went to try & book a train but then got a message saying that I need to verify my account... erm I've just done that.

SO I go back to my original email and click the verify link again, enter my details and it says the username already exists and is active. Also noticed that when I click the Activate IRCTC account I get a prompt at the bottom of my screen to open or save a file... so I open it in Notepad and get the following text in the file '{"message":"The Cleartrip username you have entered is not valid. Please try again.","status":"failed","cod e":"CT_NOT_REGISTERED"}'. Except I am actually signed in using my cleartrip username they claim is not valid. I sent them an email over a week ago about this issue & posted in their forums... nothing back.

I managed to verify my account on makemytrip.com first time round, it's just a shame I've been informed you can only use Amex on that website as well. I guess I'm just going to have to sort out my trains when I get there... cleartrip is a joke

Amex won't give me a card,so know i'm in the s"#t. Anybody got any Ideas.
I have an overnight stop at brussels on 12/7 fly to Mumbai on the 13/7
.Arrive at victoria terminus around midnight & wait to take the 6.55 am train to margo
with no tickets.
This is a disaster.
Regards,
Homerus.

Homerus, others, I think apart from a flight, for Mumbai-Goa if I can't get a train I'd hop on a bus.

It's said to be not the greatest of rides, but you'll survive. (It should be some thirteen hours, I think. Never done this stretch myself yet. Well, come to think of it, I've trained it by there, anyway it's hardly relevant here. By train, we indeed passed Goa well by dark, arriving in Mumbai 6-7AM'ish.)

So now where to catch your bus, you'll ask. I don't know, ask around on the ground, consult a guidebook. Preferably allow yourself a night or two in Mumbai, to find your bearings and have a rest after your international flight, and so to calmly look into it, and not schlepping your luggage all across (this huge!) town and being all jet-lagged and bewildered, etc.

Besides public (state) buses from the bus stand (bus station; large cities will tend to have several, serving different destinations), so where you can just ask for them, there'll tend to be a gazillion travel agents in notably the tourist areas, who deal in private buses. Your hotel desk may well double as one.

The advantage to "deluxe" buses (or coaches, as buses will often be referred to), whether state or private, is that any degree of luxury they may or may not offer aside, usually they'll be each a seat to their own, unlike regular state buses, which can get packed to the brim and beyond.

Buses can often be caught practically on the spot, or you may get a ticket for one the day after or so. In any place it always pays to enquire about your onward transport options as soon as you can, of course.

Have you tried Cleartrip method that worked for Old India Hand? New regulations on Cleartrip.com