HOW TO: Book Train Tickets On IRCTC Website

Yes, we all know, some find it quite frustrating to book tickets through IRCTC website. In this post I will help you to book tickets easily and with as less frustration as possible. First of all you need an account. YES, it’s simple to sign up. It is compulsory to create one account in order to book tickets. Your session might expire some times if you are not active on the site for more than 10 mins. You need to re-login again. Please remember this simple issue. After you get registered by filling up information and personal details which is like any other official site registration, you will need to click on submit button where a ‘Pop Up’ will appear.

Proceed further by clicking on the validated information and accepting terms and conditions (which we rarely read), then check your registered e-mail for your User ID and Password. Click on the activation link to activate your account. Also, check the verification code on your registered mobile number. You can either Login by clicking on the activation link. (or) you can visit “irctc.co.in” and enter your login details there.

IRCTC homepage

After logging in successfully, you will come to the following page, where you can see the option “plan my travel”. This is the first step to book tickets.

After filling in the destinations, date, and quota, click on “find trains”. You’ll land on a page like this. (Train details differs on daily basis)

List of Trains - IRCTC

You need to get familiar with the meanings of the symbols and abbreviations. which have been explained too.

a) If you want to travel in ‘First Class AC’ class then click under ‘1A’ column.

b) If you want to travel in ‘First Class (not air-conditioned)’ then click under ‘FC’ column.

c) If you want to travel in ‘AC 2-Tier Sleeper’ class then click under ‘2A’ column.

d) If you want to travel in ‘AC 3-Tier Sleeper’ class then click under ‘3A’ column.

e) If you want to travel in ‘AC Chair Car’ class then click under ‘CC’ column.

f) If you want to travel in ‘Sleeper’ class then click under ‘SL’ column.

g) If you want to travel in ‘Second Seating’ class then click under ‘2S’ column.

To know the fare of the ticket, click on ‘Get Fare’.

Ticket Resevation - IRCTC

As seen above, you need to fill in your details. The details of ticket, availability of tickets at the particular time and the fare including tax & service charge will appear on the screen along with the payment option.

Ticket Reservation 2 - IRCTC

You can opt for credit card, debit card, cash card & credit card EMI options. After successful payment, the User is shown ticket confirmation details.

Payment Details - IRCTC

If you want to book return ticket, click “Book Return Ticket” and you’ll get redirected on “Plan my Travel” page with the ‘From’ and ‘to’ station swapped. Well, isn’t it easy peasy? Happy journey! Do let us know in the comments if you face any issue. Thanks. 🙂

36 thoughts on “HOW TO: Book Train Tickets On IRCTC Website”

  1. hello
    shalini thnx for this complete guidelines how to book tickets on irctc ……..will share it wid my frndss to

    Reply
  2. thanks for this post. i have never used online ticket booking but will try it for sure. if it works. i have to go to the railways whenever i want to book tickets and its irritating. thanks for the post

    Reply
  3. First of all, I’m shocked to see this kind of article in hellbound bloggers !! Any way a good overall explanation to IRCTC site .

    Reply
  4. I book ticket from IRCTC.. the best and trustful site for rail reservation .. but I really don’t like they way they increase fare amount day by day.. I booked few tickets and when I request for concentration they cute about 65 rs per ticket.. this bad i think

    Reply
  5. Hi Shalani,

    I book all my train tickets through IRCTC only. Every thing is convenient except the session expired notice. We need to book tickets without any lag or else session expired 😀

    Reply
  6. That’s quite interesting. To be honest, I didn’t know that it is possible and a friend of mine, bought recently a domain name to promote train and bus tickets online. I guess he will be able to make some money, if there is an affiliate program.

    Reply
  7. I mainly face issues while making the payments.Sometimes it doesn’t accept the card n it returns error,sometimes cash is debited but ticket is not booked,etc

    Reply
  8. Thanks for sharing this great article. I agree with all your 5 points which you have mentioned in your post book train tickets.

    Reply
  9. hi
    this is really great post to about how to book train tickets on irctc .nice post.
    thanks to sharing …

    Reply
  10. Hi Shalini Singh,
    Great post this is really effective article to knwo how to Book Train Tickets On IRCTC ! I just think that creating account is hard & accept it everything is easy.

    Reply
  11. Great information. I would be much happier if you would also laid down the differences between First AC, Second class AC, Third class AC and sleeper class.

    Reply
  12. Well Thanks for the Information. But I have been seeing a Problem. My friends used to ask me For reserving the Tickets online when Tatkal bookings are started. But they used to already booked when I logged in on the time of opening the bookings. How is that possible?

    Reply
    • As this scheme has been new, there have been quiet some problems as such you mentioned…as the physical booking goes on at the same time as online, during high rush, an online user may face the problem of non-availability of tickets.

      Reply
  13. Hello Shalini Singh,
    The worst thing about irctc website is that it is too slow in the morning when the Tatkal Quota booking started.
    thanks for sharing 🙂

    Reply
  14. How what a detailed info it’s like I’m reading textbook of of 5th standard, thank you so much for this great info. and this awesome clear and simple language guidance.

    Reply
  15. nice information but what i faced mostly on payment confirmation that money got deducted but ticket not booked

    Reply

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