How to book train tickets online and offline?

ByTanya Jain

Do you have experience in booking train tickets online and offline? If not, let’s look over how to book train tickets online and offline. Today, many tasks are finished easily by just sitting at home through the internet facility, buying something online or sending money to someone. IRCTC has brought a railway ticket booking system to overcome long-distance travel to book tickets. Because of this facility, booking train tickets has become very easy now through this system. Though online booking is easy and comfortable, offline also plays a major role. Those who cannot know the technological advantage can book their train tickets offline by visiting nearby railway station. Let’s have a look over train ticket booking:

IRCTC Booking:

The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) have provided the best solution for passengers to book train tickets. You can book your railway tickets through your mobile phone using IRCTC’s website, mobile app ticket booking within minutes of sitting at home. Here are the simple steps to book your train ticket online using a mobile phone and also offline:

Online train ticket booking steps:

First Step:

The first step is to get into the official website of IRCTC. You can go to the IRCTC website through a mobile browser by connecting to the internet. Once you connect, you start your steps for booking train tickets.

Second Step:

Once you enter into the website page, at the top of the IRCTC website, you will observe the option of Menu. In order to log in IRCTC account, click on the menu and click on the option of login. Then, you can enter your username, password and captcha code and click on the sign-in option to enter. 

Third Step:

After signing into the website, you will notice the option of planning your journey. And below that, you will find a select favourite journey list, in which you have to fill in some details. The details include starting station, ending station, travel date and time. You can fill in the details as per your schedule.

Fourth Step:

After filling in all the information in your form, click on submit button. As soon as you submit, you will get a list of all the trains going on that route which place you have chosen. Which train do you have to go on? Which coaches want to make a reservation? Based on your convenience, reservation is a general quota, lady’s quota, or VIP quota.

Fifth step:

Once you decide, you can click the book now options to book the train for the day you want. As soon as you click on the book now option, a new page will open in front of you, called the passenger detail page. In this, you have to fill in some information about the traveller like Passenger name, age of the traveller, gender (whether you are male or female) and the berth the traveller wants.

Sixth Step:

If you are travelling with children under five years of age, enter the child’s details while booking train tickets.

Seventh Step:

You have to document the phone number on which your ticket will receive. After entering all the details and phone numbers, enter the captcha code. Once you enter, click on the Next button.

Eighth Step: 

You will notice all the information about your ticket and payment mode options like credit and debit card, wallet, etc. To make a payment, select it at your convenience.

Offline ticket booking:

Indian Railways has given the resource of booking train tickets from the post office keeping in view the facilities and needs of the passengers. You do not need to go to the railway station to book tickets offline for offline train ticket booking. You can also book train tickets by visiting your closest post office.

Offline Ticket Booking: A simple way to book your train ticket

Offline railway ticket booking services guide the reservation made through PRS counters at the station.

Methods:

  1. First, visit your nearest railway station and spot the reservation counter.
  2. Fill out the reservation form detailing your journey. The details required are ideal train name, number, date of journey, source and destination station names, coach class (AC/Sleeper), passenger name, age, preferred berth, etc.
  3. Fill in your details such as name, age, gender, the number of passengers, mobile number, e-mail ID (If Any), etc.
  4. Make your payment through cash. PRS counters agree only to cash as a mode of payment. However, an individual counter is available for payment through a Credit /Debit Card.
  5. The reservation clerk will hand you a computer-generated ticket in which the details of the journey are mentioned with the date and time.

Inside India

Inside the country, you can go to a railway station and get a ticket from there. This is the most straightforward booking train tickets, and you will not be overcharged. Remember if you decide to buy tickets at the railway station, there are separate queues for women. If you do not like to stand in a queue, an authorized railway agent can make things go faster for a small commission.

Most international airports in India will have a railway counter where a certain number of train tickets are reserved for tourists. You can always take advantage of this and buy your reservations or tickets before coming out of the airport.

Outside India

The Indian Railways runs a series of offices in several countries. You can find contact details at your nearest office or the Indian Railways website.

Final Thoughts:

In the current developed world, everything is easy in a way. For booking train tickets have a comfortable way in both online and offline too. The above listed are the steps to register or book your train tickets online and offline. You can make your choice based on your convenience and availability.