Meta Title: Learn about the online train booking system & the ways to book the same
Meta Description: This article aims to discuss about the importance of the train booking system online and making all the booking from the comfort of your home and at any point of time along all the information as per requisites.
What is the importance of online train booking system & how do people book the same?
Online train booking is one of the best to select the sector to travel. To select the train and the class of travel. To enter user information and to decide E-ticket or I-ticket. I will also demonstrate the first time use of a debit card and how to use this to purchase the ticket online.
What is needed to buy a ticket, Any one of the following for payment; The bank account with an ATM card The bank account with online transaction capability, The credit card And of course the computer with internet connection The method i will choose is the following  I have an ICICI ATM card It is also a visa debit card . So let us buy a ticket now.
Create a username & password to protect your account accordingly
The username I will type kannan underscore Mou, Password i will login here. Suppose i want to go from Mumbai . So the moment i type 4 characters it suggest so i want to choose mumbai central SURA let me type 4 characters and wait for it. So actually i want to go to Surat.
Notice the station code, BCT is for Bombay Central and ST is for Surat. In the future i can type BCT and ST directly for e.g we delete this and type BCT leave this as it is. Date let me choose 23rd December , Let me choose the remaining as they are E-ticket and general.
I will talk about E-ticket or I-ticket and what are the option; What are the differnces i will explain later; Let me find the place, Train name slide to the right and see that I have got lots of train. Let me make the font size likely smaller.
So that we can see all of them, Suppose i want to go by this train number12935. So let me check if i have tickets available under second sitting… two s’ Let me scrolldown a little bit it immiediately says that it is wait listed. It doesn’t matter even if it is Wait listed.
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I want to book it. So let me click this I get the message The From station that i have selected does not exist on the route choose one of these. So let’s suppose that i want to choose Bandra Terminus. Let me go and book it.
Ok let me type, my name Kannan Moudgalya, Age-53, Male, Berth preference suppose i choose Window seat. So, it gives us button senior citizen and i get the message That passengers age should be 60 years or more i say okay.
And if I am female senior citizen, then it says that passengers age should be 58 years or more. So for female it is 58 and for men it is 60 to be considered as senior citizens. For a senior citizen there are discount . So let me go back to male, window seat.
Let me press go . It gives the details, ok and says the total amount is 99. Now i have to make payment, let me click this. I can have any of this parts, I can have a credit card, i can use the net banking facilities, I can use debit card ,cash card and so on.
In order to make it accessible to most people , i am going to demonstrate the use of debit card . I need to choose one of these, unfortunately the card that i have namely ICICI bank card is not here. But it says that for any other card not listed here if it happens to be visa or master debit card Click here.
So let me click here and i get the the message that the following banks visa / master debit cards can be used to make online transaction as on date. So ICICI bank is listed. SO let me close this , so let me choose one of these.
I will choose this visa master, So card type is Visa. I am not going to show the number of the ATM card that i have. You have to Enter the 16 digit number that comes on your debit card and then credit card expiry date and then CVV number.
Learn about the tutorial of the train booking in IRCTC
Which is the three digit number last three digits at the back of your card. Next is your signature , After entering this information i have to press the buy button. Let me do that now. I get the following messsage from ICICI bank. I need to enter the validity date , Date Of Birth and then my ATM pin number. To register this card for online transaction.
Let me make it bigger so that you can see what this is. I will enter all this but i want to show you ,The moment i do that i get the message given here. I am entering a 6 digit number now, I have to choose it properly, it should be easy for me to remember and not so easy for others.
I have to type it twice. This is to ensure that i created the password correctly .This will prevent typing mistakes. Remember you have to create this password only once. From now on you will use this password with your debit card to confirm it, let me submit . I get the message Comgratulations! the ticket has been booked.
Why do people prefer using E ticket for booking tickets?
Note that all the information about the ticket are also given including the PNR number. Which we will have to follow up to see whether our wait listed ticket gets confirmed before we begin the journey.
We are now looking at the automated email sent by IRCTC the ticket details are here. You can take a print out if you wish, let us go back to the slides. I have come back to the slides what to do next? You can take a print out of the ticket .
Wait listed ticket has to get confirmed before you travel. The print out taken while wait listed is good enough. You don’t have to print it again. If the ticket is already confirmed their are no difficulties. How general is the procedure that i have shown in this tutorial train booking.
There could be minor variations in different ATM cards. The method is similar for credit card, online bank transaction is similar. But the overall procedure is identical in all the methods . To enter card on account information To enter the pasword some need a temporary code sent to your mobile phone. The next question is should one buy E-ticket or I-ticket.
First we will begin with E-ticket one can buy this at the last minute also.One needs a printer or a smart phone however, no worry about losing it. If you lose it, we can always another print out. You need identity proof at the time of travel however, In case of I-Ticket it will be sent by a courier of course you have to pay for this about Rs-50.
You should have 2-3 days for postal delivery The delivery is not available for all towns and villages. The cancellation can be done at ticket counters only. OF course you don’t need an identity proof if you travel with an I-ticket.
What is an identity proof?
Any government issued card with photo it could be an; Pan card Election card Driving license or a passport it could be any of these. I have now opened a website. That explains it, one of these with your photograph has to be carry. Let us go back to the slides, There are concessional rates available. The list inside is given here.
Let us visit this site now. I have return to the slides, Senior citizens gets about 40% discount. Who is a senior citizen? Men it is’ 60 years and above, for women it is 58 years and above. One needs the proof at travel time for any concession.
What to carry during travel ,if you book an E-ticket any one proof of your ticket and E-copy in your smart phone or a print out of the ticket and an identity card Or take the i-ticket. In case of I-Ticket as mentioned earlier, no identity proof is required.
Conclusion
I have the following usefull tips for you . Please book in advance. Book even if the chance of travel is small. You can always cancel the tickets you will lose some money if you cancel however this may be better than not having a ticket at all You cannot buy a ticket in the last minute .
Book when the IRCTC websie is fast. Typically mid afternoon or late night may be fast. Avoid 8 to 10AM if you can. In the next tutorial we will discuss how to manage the tickets booked through IRCTC. How to view past booking. How to check the PNR status.