How to book Indian Railways tickets on new IRCTC website; Explained in 8 easy steps

Recently, the e-ticketing arm of Indian Railways i.e., Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) modernized its official website. Now, a new version of the official website, in its beta form, is available for passengers to try.

• June 4, 2018 12:38 PM

The revamped IRCTC website boasts of several passenger-friendly measures, the coolest of which is the latest software that predicts the chances of your waitlisted ticket getting confirmed.

New IRCTC next-generation e-ticketing website: Recently, the e-ticketing arm of Indian Railways i.e., Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) modernized its official website. Now, a new version of the official website, in its beta form, is available for passengers to try. The revamped IRCTC website boasts of several passenger-friendly measures, the coolest of which is the latest software that predicts the chances of your waitlisted ticket getting confirmed. While other railway portals already offer a similar feature, Indian Railways claims that its software, developed by CRIS, is more accurate since the national transporter has more data to draw trends from. Yet another features if that passengers or users can easily check the availability of trains and seats without logging in to their account. With the establishment of the new website, not only has it become more convenient for railway passengers to book their tickets, it is helpful in planning the journey better. Here is how passengers can book their railway tickets through the new IRCTC website in 8 easy steps:

1. Passengers can go to the new IRCTC website (available as a link on the upper left hand side on irctc.co.in) and can first check the availability of trains and seats without logging in to their IRCTC account. Under the ‘Book your ticket’ section passengers can enter ‘from’ and ‘to’ railway stations, date of the journey and can also choose the class. Different filters as per departure/arrival time, class, train, and quota help the user plan the journey better.

2. By clicking on ‘Find trains’ option a list of trains with the availability of seats will appear on the screen. The passenger also gets the option to modify the search. Here, the passenger can check the availability of seats as well as the train fare.

3. Also, the new website displays CNF availability in alternate trains. By choosing this option, the passenger has to log in to his/her IRCTC account by entering username and password. Following this, an OTP is sent to his/her mobile number. On entering the OTP, the website will display ‘Probability of Confirmation’ with last year’s confirmation trends for the same period. This new feature not only tells you the chances of your waitlisted ticket getting confirmed, but also helps you make a more informed choice about opting for the Vikalp scheme. For example, when we tried booking a ticket, the chance of confirmation was at 49%. In such a case, it would be better to opt for another train, or the Vikalp scheme.

image source: IRCTC

4. After checking the availability of tickets, the passenger can proceed to book the ticket. To do so, he/she can click on the ‘Book now’ option. If not logged in, the passenger will have to login by entering username and password. Following this, an OTP and booking OTP will be sent to his/her mobile number. Then the passenger can click on ‘Sign in’ option to go to the next page.

5. Now under ‘passenger details’ he/she will have to enter details such as name, age, gender, seat preference and ID type. Passengers will have to take the Travel Insurance, which is for Rs 0.0/person. The passenger can then enter the ‘OTP for Booking’, which has been sent on his/her mobile number.

6. In order to continue booking, the passenger will have to go to the next step for review booking. The passenger can then confirm all the journey details and move to the next step for payment.

7. Under ‘Payment options’ passengers can choose to make the payment through BHIM/ UPI/ USSD, Multiple Payment Service, Debit Card with PIN, Net Banking, Bharat QR/Scan & Pay, Wallets/ Cash Card, IRCTC Prepaid, Pay on Delivery/ Pay later, Payment Gateway/ Credit/ Debit Cards. After making the payment, the ticket will be booked. You can now manage the payment options by marking as many as six banks as ‘preferred banks’ under the ‘My profile’ section.

8. After booking, in case you want to request for cancellation, SMS, printing, selection of alternative train by making use of ‘Vikalp’ scheme option and changing of boarding point, you can do so under the booked history.