No Standing In Queues For Buying Rail Tickets

Indian railways , which is the fourth largest rail track after United States, Russia and China, transporting over 30 million passengers every day, maintains a ticket reservation system which is admired by one and all. Railway tickets can be bought from Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Limited, shortly referred as IRCTC, through online net booking. IRCTC facilitates buying rail tickets online, to avail which facility, the following steps are to be taken. •To establish Computer facility and internet connectionrn•To establish an Internet banking account alternatively to subscribe for a Credit Card. •To sign up, with a User ID and Password exclusive to a particular user. Railway tickets are obtainable 90 days before the date of journey, for which one has to sign in to his account and follow the procedure given below: •Select the departure and destination stations, date of travel, class of travel and special quota, from the drop down menu appearing in the Plan your travel section of the IRCTC portal for booking rail tickets online appearing when you sign in. Be careful in choosing the right date of travel. •When you select the above details and click the ‘submit’ tab, there appears a list of trains available for your travel on the particular day, with class options requiring your selection. •When you select your option, search process begins instantaneously and you see the availability with fare information of your rail tickets on the screen for you to click the ‘book’ option. •In the next screen, you are required to furnish the passenger details, berth preferences and option to avail the Senior Citizen concession, if eligible. You will also be required to furnish your mobile phone number and a verification code before you submit your request for rail ticketsrn•Next screen appears with the details of the ticket assigned and you are to click the option for making payment for railway tickets. •When you click the payment option, next screen appears for your choice of bank for net banking or choice of Credit Card. Once you click any of them, next screens take you to the payment gate way of the respective bank’s portal or credit card organisation’s portal for you to authorize your payment for the rail tickets you are purchasing. •When the payment is authorized and processed, the IRCTC’s screen appears again confirming the ticket booking which you can get printed. Nowadays, you do not have to carry the hard copy of the ticket. IRCTC gives you a message in your mobile phone instantaneously when buying rail tickets online and also send you an eMail. It is enough if you show your message or the eMail from your smart phone to the Ticket examiner with your proof of identity to establish your authenticity for travel.