Solving problems with IRCTC/Cleartrip registration

I am currently trying to register on the IRCTC site from the UK. A friend in Mumbai has provided me with his mobile number in order to get the mobile verification code, but he is not receiving the SMS message.

Anyone have any ideas?

ps. I have sent an email to care@irctc.co.in so hopefully they will let me know what is going wrong.

I have just successfully registered from Australia.

I have just given more detail on the 'cleartrip' thread.

Is it possible that your friend already has an IRCTC account linked to that number?

The first number he gave me was already registered, so yes. However, he gave me another number and it said verification successfully sent but it was never received.

I managed to get things moving by phoning IRCTC on +91 11-39340000.

Thanks Dave - will give that a go if my email doesn't produce any results.

I wonder if they'll be so happy with you informing them you're trying to use a borrowed Indian cellphone nr. for it.

Can't say, maybe they won't mind.

Thanks Dave W for such information on Railways.

Thanks
Tom

Hmmm.... the latest on it by Seat61, suggesting he isn't in fact succeeding in getting any foreign credit card accepted with IRCTC (? Or can anyone confirm Amex does in fact and still work?):

http://www.seat61.com/India.htm

http://www.seat61.com/India.htm

Its driving me crazy!

I have registered and emailed them for my mobile code, got this and it still doesn't work on Cleartrips nor IRCTC, I have spoken to Cleartrips twice and they say I should try again or try and get someone else to book on my behalf! I can only get through to IRCTC via email and they just keep saying its a problem with the Cleartrip portal! I have now set up another email account and Cleartrip account and am trying to register with IRCTC but it says "Your registration attempt did not succeed on IRCTC. The following is the response we have received
attribute "residPin" has a bad value: the value does not match the regular expression "([0-9]{6})"." or "Sorry,Connection Problems Please try again-200." on the IRCTC website! Any suggestions?

For "residPin" has a bad value problem - try with six numbers, not with four, five or seven.

Have anyone found a way to book tickets in IRCTC? using the account that I had last year, I tried the AMEX of one of my friends but still the payment doesnt go through I dont understand.....what shall I do? I created a new account and I sent an email with my passport scan and username and asked them to activate my account but still no answer.....help pleasee!!!

you are at the mercy of IRCTC I'm afraid just keep hammering on their door is all I can suggest..

They have blocked third party access to availability as well I notice, very helpful!

Thank you Klompen......Whats the worst case scenario? is there any agency that I could use that i could use to book my tickets? maybe an agency in india??

In Delhi itself it's better to head for the Tourist Cell at New Delhi Train station....
But be aware you need to fill out a reservation form for each journey and you will need to do research beforehand as you will need the train number of the train you want to reserve.