Booking a ticket on IRCTC for Indian Railways now set to become easier

Booking a ticket for Indian Railways will now be a lot smoother, thanks to the initiative by the Railway Minister P.K.Bansal.  Mr.Bansal, while presenting the budget today announced that the IRCTC website will undergo a ‘paradigm change. Acknowledging the fact that booking tickets using the IRCTC website is a troublesome experience, Bansal said there is a need to improve e-ticketing services on the Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Company website.

He further added that the Railways will also provide free Wi-fi facilities will be available in select trains and stations, making journeys comfortable for those who wish to be connected to the Internet.  This will sound like a manna from heaven for passengers, especially those travelling on Rajdhani Express trains.  Rajdhani is sure to be the first train service which will have Wi-Fi capability.  

IRCTC website is forever clogged and it is very frustrating for a railway passenger to book tickets through IRCTC.  The initiative by Mr.Bansal may take a while to be implemented knowing how slowly the wheels of the Government move.  However there is a way out to book a ticket on IRCTC using a unique technique.  Check it out.

The  online booking window opens only a day in advance of your journey between 10 am and 12 am. Further a person can book only two Tatkal tickets on one user id, so the more tickets you need, the more IRCTC login ids will be required so take the help of your mates and colleagues.

First of all you need to be logged into the IRCTC server at exactly 10.00 am India time.  To be the first, open all the browsers in your computer and simultaneously enter the Website.  Remember the waiting time for each ticket booking is only 7 secs, and millions of Indians at that precise moment are trying to book a ticket for same train as you want.  So the timing part is very important.  A minute loss can result in 9 bookings already being done before you.  The clock on your desktop may show a different time than the railways time.  To sync it go to IRCTC site by clicking here.  Key in any random number in the  box  called Train Number and press the "Get Schedule" button.  In the resultant page, the lower right will show you the exact Railways time.  Set your desktop time to match the second with it.

No. of Queries : 0537958105 ,         Server : GANESH ,      Dated : 26-02-2013 Time:19:10:50 Hrs

With time sync done, wait up for the clock on desktop to say 9.58 am and login.  The timing of you logging in is important as the IRCTC website session expires every 3 minutes.  Which means that if you keep the site idle for more than 3 minutes, you will have to log in again, loosing the precious seconds.  To ensure that the screen doesn't go idle for more than 3 minutes. 

Another way to keep the is to visit the  IRCTC website press Login press General  press Terms & Conditions.   Now copy the URL of Terms and Conditions page into a another tab.  Now when the page loads keep pressing F5 every two minutes.  This will take care of your session.

Now book your ticket as you normally would but keep all the details like your destination, train number, pan card number, debit card number, CVV number handy.  You will find that you have increased the chances of you getting a 'Confirmed' ticket.

Please post your comments, in the meanwhile, when I checked the site, the IRCTC is ever so slow.  In case it starts acting very active, I will post a article.

Vijay Prabhu