Okay so I have a japanese friend and one day all of a sudden she decided to take train challenge. Indian trains might seem like an adventurous venture for people from any other country but they could be the most uncomfortably annoying hours of your life. As soon as she said, three other friends of mine including me told her it was not safe and she should rather take flight. Well, she was super excited, we actually crushed her spirit. Next morning I promised her I would help her in booking tickets and ensure she comes back safely to us. Now I am going to write steps with pictures to help you all foreigners with ticket booking. As I write down, I will explain basic tabs and rules from government rail.
Step 1 : Go to www.irctc.co.in
First common result is webpage is not available. This is a very irritating website, its majorly flawed and has a lot of bugs, popups. It can't handle many users.
If it opens, you will see this page:
If you already have an account, you can enter username and password in the spaces provided and just login.
But if you had one, why would you be here.....So click on signup and you will be forwarded to next page.
After filling all the basic details carefully, submit form, you will get two codes ,one on your email-id, one to your mobile. Now these are identification codes, fill these in next page to go through with the whole registration process. Once you are registered, enter your login id and password to plan your future trips. Sometimes mobile code takes a little longer to reach. If it is not there in 10 minutes, click for another mobile code.
You can also do this registration process on cleartrip.com. Its all the same. In fact its better to do on cleartrip.com. Its more user friendly and guides you well. After entering from, to, dates it will search train, when you click check availability it will ask you to login with your email id, and also helps in setting up an irctc account if you don't have one.
This is obviously easier than the whole irctc deal. But for their services, they charge more. You can customise your search, make changes, and then check for seats.
Now mostly when you check for seats availability, it is bound to say waitlist and still you can book. So what are you paying for here is the chance of hidden luck where other waitlisted and already seated people will cancel the tickets and you will get train tickets one or two day before. If it doesn't happen, your money is refunded. Not all money comes back, they cut cancellation charges and depending on the day you cancel. You can't cancel tatkal tickets.
My suggestion is don't book if waitlist is more than 70 and check two days before train's journey if the ticket is cleared. If not, cancel the ticket.
Now there is another option, tatkal which opens 24 hours before the train starts. Go to the website irctc and with that option on, search for trains.
Yep, see the tab with quota there you have to choose tatkal to get seats reserved for travellers who need to travel urgently in a day. It opens at 10 am in the morning. After selecting the find train, it will show you a list of trains, its departure arrival time.
1A compartment- is usually for foreigners but it is not much different from second AC, you do get less people to share bathroom with, that is the only difference, Same space for people, no food explicitly. This one is the most expensive one, almost triple price than other options.
2A- This one is good too, one compartment with four berths, on the side there are 2 berths. If you are going for 2AC, avoid side upper side lower seats, they have less space. If you are going as a single traveller, any seat is okk for you. 2Ac has better lot of india, they are mostly well behaved.
3AC- Its better than sleeper. But I would never go in this one. Its too congested, may be if you are in a group , you can go in this 3A. But if this is just girls outing, don't even think about entering the coach. Its cheaper than 2AC but way too common people go by this, be ready to be stalked or bothered if you choose this. There are 6 berths in the same block, for 3AC , side upper side lower seats are better options. They give you privacy.
Sleeper- Its the worst. Don't go by this.
2s- Its seating is like bus, way too much crowd and no AC. I hate this one.
CC- Its okk for a short journey. Chair car, fully air conditioned, leg space could be the problem for foreigners. This option is way for preferred than sleeper or 2s or 3AC if journey is less than 5 hours. Its like sitting on a chair.
Now for booking on irctc, click on plan my travel after logging in, enter from, to, e-ticket, date, tatak or general, and then go to find trains. On the list of train, click on the 1a,2a, 3a whichever you want to book. And a screen like this will come
Now on the right hand side, it says available, normally it says regret/some other stupid terms. If its available, click on book
So, fill all the information, at the end instead of none, go for book my ticket only if all are in same coach.
Also click consider for auto upgradation, if in case there is better seat available you will get it in a better coach.
Enter your mobile number, verification code and click "Go".
The tricky part is you will first pay for the tickets and then you get seat number. Most of the times, they are together, but if the seats were just one or two left, you might have to cancel the tickets if the seats are too far from each other. Or you could board the train and exchange it with someone. 6 seats in the same block,
block 1 Side seats ( for second AC)
1 2 6
3 4 5
If your number is 25 and 30, 25/4(number of seats in one block)= 6.----
You are in 7th block which starts from 25
25 27 30
26 28 29
After booking, you will get seats
UB- upper berth
LB-lower berth
SU-side upper
SL-Side lower
For cancelling, go to my transactions just below Services, you will see booked section, cancelled section etc.
If you can't find the code of place you want to go, click on this
There is another site that is used to get information on trains, the availability without logging in , its www.indianrail.gov.in
There is one more to see where your train currently is and what time it will reach the station
www.trainenquiry.com
Okay,so this was all about indian trains, i know there is no japanese or other language versions and that is the major problem. The site itself is very slow and won't respond on tatkal times. So be patient and enjoy indian trains.
