The Ministry of Railways announced on Sunday that passenger train services will be gradually resumed in India starting May 12. Booking will begin at 4pm on May 11. Initially, 15 pair of trains with origin from New Delhi will run. They will go to Dibrugarh, Agartala, Howrah, Patna, Bilaspur, Ranchi, Bhubaneswar, Secunderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram, Madgaon, Mumbai Central, Ahmedabad, and Jammu Tawi and return to New Delhi. Passengers will be able to book tickets using only the IRCTC website irctc.co.in or the IRCTC mobile app. Tickets will not be available at Indian Railways counters. Indian Railways has said that passengers will have to wear face cover and undergo screening at departure and only asymptomatic passengers will be allowed. If you want to travel, here is how you can reserve your seats:
How to book train tickets on IRCTC website
To be able to book tickets via IRCTC, you need to first have an account on its website. Open the website irctc.co.in and click on the Register button on the top of the webpage. On this page, fill details like your desired username, password, security question and answer, and preferred language. Type your name, gender, date of birth, mobile number, email address, residential address, and office address. After agreeing to the terms and conditions, click on the register button to create your account on IRCTC.
Those who already have an account or those who have just created their accounts, click on the red-coloured Login button. Feed your user ID and password here along with the captcha code and press Sign in.
After logging in, type the source and destination of your journey in the Book your ticket box. Select the journey date and class of coach before clicking on the Find Trains button. You need to keep in mind that as per the latest orders, trains will run only from New Delhi station connecting 15 destinations and will return from the destination as well.
Now you have a list of trains from which you can choose your desired train and the class of coach. Indian Railways has said that the trains will have only AC coaches. Click on Check availability and fare You will then get to see the availability. In the train. If seats are available, proceed to book your tickets by clicking on Book Now.
In a new webpage, fill the passenger details like name, age, gender, and berth preference. You can also add more passengers. After that IRCTC gives you some options like Book only if confirm berths are allotted, Consider for auto-upgradation, and Preferred coach ID. You can also opt for travel insurance for the journey. Scroll down and put your mobile number and captcha code, and click on Continue booking.
IRCTC now lets you review your booking. Check the availability status, passenger name, train, berth selections, and other details and then click on Continue Booking.
A new page opens where you get to select your payment option. Choose your preferred mode from options like credit card, debit card, net banking, UPI, and others on your screen. The fare should be visible on the right side of the screen. After making the payment, you will be able to see your ticket information including train name and number, coach number, and berth number. You can download the ticket using the given option here, although an SMS is also sent to the given mobile number which, along with your valid ID card, is enough.
How to book train tickets on IRCTC mobile app
To book using the IRCTC mobile app, click on the login button and enter your user ID, password and captcha code. If you don’t have an account you can click on the register button and create a new account by filling the same details as mentioned above.
After logging in, tap on Plan my journey and mention station names, select date and tap on Search trains. You can now choose the train that is running towards your desired destination. Also, select the coach type by tapping on the name of the train. Here, you can see the availability in the selected train on the given date. Proceed with the booking if seats are available. On the next page, add passenger name, mobile number, and other details.
In the end, you need to make the payment via credit card, debit card, net banking, UPI, etc. Choose your preferred mode, type the captcha code, and complete the payment. You now have your ticket booking details with information like the coach and berth number.
