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 Despite its vast network and huge route length covered by it, Indian railway ticket fare is one of the lowest in the world. Country’s socio-political structure has ensured that millions of people travelling from train have to pay least possible amount for a safe and sound journey. Indian railway reservation system was manual previously considering the absence of high tech facilities. But this made the entire process more complex and cumbersome. Semblance of changing times was initially visible in 1986 when country’s first reservation center with computerized system was unveiled at New Delhi. Slowly, the entire reservation centres spread across the country were connected to internet and this became possible in the year of 1995.
The arrival of internet suddenly made the process of ticket booking much easier. Accessing the latest information concerning seats availability, train timing and running status etc became easy. The passengers never felt this much comfortable before. But there was more in store with rising train travelling population. New forms of technologies kept arriving and that made Indian railway adopt some of these with equal fervour. One of the best things that could happen to passengers was beginning of online ticket booking. Now the people, who know a thing or two about accessing internet and computers, can easily make reservations themselves without taking the trouble of standing in long queue for hours.
The complete system of Indian railway ticket booking has changed for better. The best part about online booking is you can do it all by yourself sitting in the comfort of your home. The online ticket booking is done at the website of Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) which is a subsidiary of the marketing division of Indian railways. IRCTC has an online reservation site where passengers can create an online account and book their tickets. The system of online reservation was introduced on 3rd August 2002. This great concept has truly proved helpful in saving people time and hassle.
In order to perform Indian railway online booking, first, one needs to register and create an account on IRCTC website. Once you have completed all the details of creating a new account, you are free to book your online tickets by simply logging into your account. You will need to choose, travel source and destination name, date, class of accommodation and type of tickets desired by you. As far as payment for ticket is concerned, you can do through credit card, debit card or net banking facilities.
Additionally, IRCTC website offers several other services like railway credit card of SBI, booking via SMS, registration alternatives for Subh Yatra and season ticket booking etc. You can also sign up for commercial as well as personal newsletters. There are two types of online tickets, E-Ticket and I-Ticket. The former one refers to need of carrying any ID proof like Voter ID card, PAN card, Passport or Driving License etc during the journey along with the printed ticket. I-Ticket is basically a normal ticket that is delivered at your doorsteps. Indian railway online booking has truly come a long way in making things much easier for millions of passengers.
For further information, one can check www.irctc.co.in along with a host of private travel websites that offer the facility of online ticket booking.
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