Solving problems with IRCTC/Cleartrip registration

globe-traverser

Just so you know the Advance Reservation Period is now 120 days.

I use an Amex card. I put the first 6 digits/letters of my postcode in the payment page and it works for me. When I booked last year the journey dates were after the expiry date on my card so I don't think it is that.

Which Internet browser are you using?

How often have you tried? Sometimes the irctc site just seems to get overwhelmed by the traffic.

Cheers Dave. Yes I think I meant 120 days as I am only just able to book the first few of my planned trains at the end of Nov now.

I also just tried my parent's AMEX card (linked to their Virgin visa one, but still a standalone AMEX I think). Expiry was in 2013 so no issue there and their postcode was only 6 digits. I'm puzzled as to why it won't work. I shall keep persevering! I have tried the transaction using both Firefox and IE, and at quiet times in the middle of the night in India. I shall let you know if I find out why it's not working.

Do you have any direct communication with Amex for either of these cards? I wonder if it is something to do with their fraud prevention mechanism?

Nope, no phone calls at all. When I spoke to them they said that they couldn't even tell on their system that I had attempted a transaction.

If I do go down the cleartrip route, after I've had a couple more attempts on irctc, is it more straightforward now I already have an irctc account, or will I have to register for a new one... couldn't quite understand which would be the case from the seat61 info.

You mentioned that you had spoken to your bank. I'm a bit unclear about how these linked Amex cards work. I call the Amex 24 hour line on 01273 576904 which somehow gets me through to their call centre in Leeds.

I think that it is probably easier to start from scratch but use a different e-mail address to the one you already have with irctc. When I tried to link existing accounts I was in India so had an Indian mobile phone number which made it all very easy.

Hi Dave
We're in thank god for that! 2 trains booked and paid for, thanks to the advice on here and seat61, couldn't have done it otherwise.
Btw quick question about cleartrip, when they say "could not get current availability,please try later" why is that?
Bit concerned because the alternative times on the same route don't have much availability left.
Would it be better to book a train at a time that isn't really convenient,just to make sure I get from A to B, or hold fire and wait to see if the one I want comes up?

Good to hear that you have got your account working. This message comes up quite often on Cleartrip. If you try to book during the daily down time on the Indian Railways system (23.30-00.30 IST) it will happen. I think that when it comes up at other times it is because the Indian Railways system, which is the source that the booking sites use, is having one of its periodic no goes

ADDITIONAL - If it is only specific trains that are showing "could not get current availability,please try later" it is probably because the booking window , known as the ARP, is a shorter period than the 120 day norm. There are quite a few trains with 30 day ARPs and a few with 15 or even 10 days. Which train is causing the problem?

As they say - a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. It depends a bit how many trips you are booking. If its only a few you could book the inconvenient one and then book the better one later if it is still available. Cancellation charges are pretty minimal but don't cancel a ticket until you actually have a better, confirmed one to replace it.

The caveat is that you are limited to booking 10 trips per month per account.

So... finally I have got a ticket! Print out in hand now :-)

Despite having successfully enrolled with IRCTC, my payment with my UK AMEX card always failed (I also tried my parent's but this also failed). It may have been because they are duo cards (i.e linked to a mastercard/visacard).

I then followed the seat61.com instructions to set up a Cleartrip account, and new IRCTC log on (different user name and email address) and had the 2 mobile/email passwords replies from IRCTC within 12 hours of sending them my passport scan. I then successfully activated my Cleartrip account and booked my ticket using my visa card. When I first tried it, for some reason it failed just before the payment stage. I tried again using Firefox as the first time I was using Internet explorer. Everything worked using Firefox. Hope this might provide some help to someone out there.

I did wonder if it might be that the tickets hadn't been released for sale yet. It's the Ajmer to Udaipur 16.10 (no.12992) that's not coming up.
Will give it one more go then take your advice and book an alternative one, hadn't realised you could cancel.

slinkycat

It seems train 12992 has a 30 day ARP window. You should be able to get seats no problem on or after 16th September. It doesn't look like this train sells out instantly.

fl4ian, thank you so much for posting this message! I have been emailing with KRCTC for weeks and your magical email solved everything! I just booked my first train!

Hi Dave
Once again thanks, I'll leave it for now and try to book in a couple of weeks, we want to travel on 7th October.
Btw, the tickets we have booked so far, on the electronic reservation slip they are all showing scheduled departure as N/A, new timetable from 1/7/2011 ??
Guess I should be posting this on a different thread seeing as I have successfully navigated the minefield of registration, and apologies if I don't get back straight away as I'm off to Devon for a week, need some R&R from what has become an obsession in planning the perfect trip to India

... I have been using IRCTC and an AMEX card successfully for some time, with my last successful booking only a few days ago.

Today not possible.
The AMEX payment page has changed and now has a 'selection' for either domestic or international AMEX cards and a 'dropdown for country'.

My booking has failed (3 times), IRCTC tells me, because:

" You Were Trying To Use amex Payment Gateway And The Transaction CouldNot Proceed Due To Exact match - address and 5 digit ZIP/postal code. "

What is odd is that my postal code is recorded as 4 digit at both IRCTC and AMEX, and Indian Pins are 6 digit, so why 5 (five).

Fortunately, not in any hurry as the train I need still has 170 seats.

Will wait and watch - try again on Monday.

Old India Hand, things have changed in recent times. Read back to the beginning of this thread, and you will find it all explained.

See also http://www.indiamike.com/india/india...012-a-t165379/ while you're at it.

It looks like this is to do with Amex having introduced their own enhanced security called Safe Key. I just went on line to buy a ticket. On the new payment screen I selected International card, United Kingdom from the drop-down list. I first tried my UK post code less the last letter as it is 7 digits. That failed so I tried the 6 digit Indian zip code that I had used to set up my irctc account. It worked.

I then found myself on an Amex page which ,when completed, led on to a KeySafe set up page. by the time I had done this i had been logged out of the irctc booking page. When I tried again it sailed through no problems. This looks to be a big improvent over having to phone Amex prior to trying to book.