Indian railways were first established to India in 1853 from Bombay to Thane, now it becomes fourth largest railway network across the world. It has 119,630 km of total track and 92,081 km of running track with more than 7,216 stations. Indian railway is an unflinching part of Indian economy which plays an important role in the growth of a country. Every day thousands of people used to travel in a train because of it best for a long journey. For traveling by train, a passenger must book their ticket before their scheduled journey otherwise they are not allowed to sit on the train. It is very simple to book your ticket in IRCTC by online, offline or through travel agencies.

Online reservations are carried out at the official website of IRCTC i.e irctc.co.in. Here you can book your ticket easily without wasting your time to visit railway station. Here we will mention easy process about the IRCTC reservation, IRCTC reservation timings, and status.

How to do IRCTC Reservation-

Both online reservation and offline reservation process in IRCTC are very easy, only you need to fill all the required information. Here we describe both process step by step so that you will not face any discomfort during IRCTC reservation.

IRCTC Online Reservation:

For online IRCTC reservation follow following steps:

1. Visit https://irctc.co.in/ and create your account
2. Enter the Username, password, age, mobile number, gender etc.
3. You will receive OTP, enter OTP for verification
4. Click on Submit
5. After creating account, select the origin and destination place
6. Select your journey Date
7. Enter captcha code
8. Enter the train name in which you want to travel
9. Enter all the details of passenger and pay the amount of ticket by debit/credit or net banking.
10. You can also pay the amount of ticket with the help of E-wallet
11. If you have an existing IRCTC account then simply login into that account and enter all the mandatory details.

IRCTC Reservation Offline:

If you are booking your railway ticket from the counter then you have to follow following steps:

1. Visit your nearest railway station.
2. Go to the ticket counter
3. Ask counter officer for train ticket in which you want to travel
4. They will provide you an IRCTC reservation form
5. Fill all the details of passenger and submit this form in the railway ticket counter

Tatkal Ticket Reservation-

Tatkal ticket reservation feature is specially introduced for the emergency purpose, Tatkal is meant to be Immediate booking. For booking train ticket in Tatkal quota, you have to book your ticket within 10 AM to 11 AM for AC class and from 11 AM to 12 AM for sleeper class. Getting confirmed Tatkal ticket is just like winning the lottery because it totally depends on your luck. Tatkal tickets are limited and thousands of people booking their ticket at the same time because of this chances of getting confirmed Tatkal ticket is slow.

Recently railway minister announced that now Indian citizen can cancel their confirmed Tatkal ticket and can get 50 % refund of the ticket price. Previously this facility was not available, people get a refund only after the cancellation on waiting for a ticket. The charges of Tatkal ticket is high as compared to normal tickets. It is good to take a printout of a ticket and carry it with you during your journey to avoid and problem.

IRCTC reservations are assigned with 10 digit PNR number, with the help of this PNR number you can check a irctc reservation status of your ticket if it is not confirmed. PNR number is passenger record which is stored in the IRCTC database. Now you can also know your ticket status via SMS or call on 139. It is a irctc reservation enquiry number, some changes are applicable to check PNR status via SMS or call.

IRCTC Reservation Timings:

You can book IRCTC ticket from everywhere at every time via online or at a counter. But you can book Tatkal ticket only from 10:00 am to 11:00 for AC seats and from 11:00 am and 12:00 pm for non-AC seats. Other than this timing you cannot book Tatkal ticket. You can book Tatkal ticket only one day before your scheduled journey.

IRCTC Reservation Cancellation:

It is very easy to cancel your confirmed reservation ticket in IRCTC. Previously IRCTC not refunded any amount after a cancellation of a ticket but now it refunds full amount after deducting some charges. These charges will depend upon the timing of your ticket cancellation. You can cancel your ticket online as well as offline. But you can only cancel your E-ticket through online IRCTC account. Online process of ticket cancellation is easy as compared to offline process.

For online ticket cancellation, your need to do following steps:

1. Visit IRCTC Login Page to login your IRCTC account
2. Select ticket history
3. Click on Cancel ticket
4. After clicking, you will receive OTP on your registered mobile number
5. Enter OPT number and click on the submit button
6. You will receive a message”You ticket is successfully canceled”
7. You will receive your refund on the same account through which you booked the ticket.

Cancel Your Ticket At Counter:

For cancellation of a ticket at the counter, first, you have to fill ticket cancellation form. Fill Passenger name, gender, DOB, phone number, bank accounted number etc in the form and submit it into ticket counter. Enter all correct information in the form. You will soon receive your refund in your bank account.

All the information that we mentioned above will surely help you for IRCTC reservation. If still, you have any query related to IRCTC ticket then comment below, we will resolve your problem as soon as possible.