Earning Points on Indian Railways Tickets

Getting up to10% cash back on Indian Railways tickets as railway points can happen only with a subscription to Subh Yatra loyalty points. With the accumulated points, I even traveled for free! You will have to have at least 500 points to avail free Indian Railways tickets. Well railway points are valid only on 1st Class AC, 2nd Class AC, Executive Chair Car and AC Chair Car tickets booked at the IRCTC website.

It was while booking Indian Railways tickets at the Zoomtra.com page that I was navigated to the IRCTC page and that’s how I browsed through the loyalty program page and immediately subscribed for the same. Fees for a subscription are very cheap; it’s Rs. 500 for first year membership followed by annual renewal fee of Rs.300 excluding taxes and transaction charges. Do keep in mind that you can earn points on only full-fare Indian Railways tickets.

It has been a number of times that I didn’t get confirmed tickets. Of course PNR Status kept me updated about the status of my reservation. Yes, a couple of times, even the PNR status did not show a confirmation and we had to cancel the bookings. Advance bookings are a must!

IRCTC Official Website and Indian Railways

Do you guys know that the IRCTC official website has emerged as the largest and the fastest growing e-commerce portal not only in India but also in the Asia-Pacific region? Yes, all of you guys traveling by train often should be proud of this fact. No wonder with facilitation of buying of train tickets online at the IRCTC website, train travelers have sighed deep sighs of relief! No more waiting in long queues at Indian Railways counters to get train tickets! No matter where you are, all you need to do is log in to the IRCTC website and book your train tickets anytime between 00:30 Hrs to 23:30 Hrs.

Do you guys know that Indian Railways has 7,083 stations? And just imagine how many coaches it has? It is 60,000 coaches and 9,000 locomotives! And over 30 millions passengers travel by Indian Railways everyday! Distance in track covered is more than 64,215 kilometres. And it is broad gauge that is the predominant gauge used though metre gauges and narrow gauges are also used. What started in 1853 greatly expanded over the years. Broad gauge track covered by Indian railways is 96,851 km which accounts 86.8% of the entire track length encompassing all gauges.

Achievements of IRCTC of Indian Railways

If you do not know about the achievements of IRCTC of Indian Railways as a regular traveler by train, you are actually not an informed traveler in the true sense of the term. Besides being the largest and the fastest growing e-commerce website in the Asia-Pacific region with lakhs of registered users, it has won numerous awards. Indian Railways has only made ticketing simpler introducing online ticketing services with the formation of its subsidiary IRCTC. Few of the awards won by IRCTC worth mentioning are National Tourism Award of Excellence, National award for E-Governance, Retail Excellence Award, Mini Ratna Category-1, Genius of the Web Award, and more.

Booking of train tickets at the IRCTC website is easy. Just follow the steps and proceed. This facility was also available at the Indian Railways corporate site for some time but stopped for the time being. To buy train tickets at IRCTC, you have to get registered at its site. If you enter your mobile number, you can get SMS alerts related to your train tickets. You can also enjoy budget and luxury package tours covering the length and breadth of the country. Complete information about the tourism packages can be accessed at IRCTC site.

Online Reservation of Indian Railways Tickets

Want to receive SMS alerts related to your Indian Railways reservation? Update your mobile number in your profile registered at the IRCTC website. You will not only receive SMS alerts for your ticket booking but also get PNR status in case the booking is not confirmed. Besides, PNR Status can also be received if you send SMS to 139. You may alternatively dial the same number and get your PNR status. Of course the 10-digit PNR number has to be fed in to get the status.

It is not only at the IRCTC website that Indian Railways ticket booking is facilitated. You can also book it at travel portals like Zoomtra.com. For some time online ticketing was also facilitated at the Indian Railways corporate site but is stopped for the time being. You can either get e-tickets or i-tickets the only difference between the two is that the latter is received via post right at the doorsteps.

Well, do not take for granted that you will always get confirmed reservation any time you book tickets online at the IRCTC website or travel portals. Without advanced reservations there is no guarantee of confirmed seats! Even tatkal reservation may not turn in your favor.