IRCTC Ticket Booking FAQs

We have General and Tatkal quota facility available.

Reservation Against Cancellation (RAC) means that you have an assured seat but the berth has not been allotted yet. As other passengers cancel their ticket, you will be promoted on the RAC list and will be allotted a berth subsequently.

As per IRCTC guidelines, special quota selection is not allowed for booking through online agents.

Simply select your origin, destination, travel date, class and quota then click 'Search'.

Yes, you can. For instance, search for New Delhi station by typing NDLS.

On this page, you can search and book one–way trips only.

Here is a brief explanation of what you will find in different classes:

AC First Class (1A): Offers air conditioned accommodation for two berths (one up & one down) or four berths (two up & two down) lockable compartments for overnight journeys; linen/ blankets; facility of shower/ toilet at either end of the carriage & attendant services are provided.

AC 2 Tier (2A): Air conditioned corridor carriage that sleeps 46 people split up into two & four berth cubicles separated by curtains.

AC 3 Tier (3A): Air conditioned 3-tier sleeper. Carriages are divided into compartments with six beds in each. The beds are stacked vertically in three tiers on either side of the compartments. During the day, the middle beds must be folded down flat against the compartment walls to allow passengers to sit on the lower beds. Two tiers of beds are also located outside the compartments, along the aisle. Toilet facility at either end of the carriage.

First Class (FC): Offers non air conditioned accommodation for two berths (one up & one down) or four berths (two up & two down) lockable compartments for overnight journeys; facility of shower/ toilet at either end of the carriage.

AC Chair Car (CC): Air conditioned carriage with reclining seats. Only sitting accommodation is provided.

Sleeper (SL): Non air conditioned Sleeper class. Similar to AC 3 tier except that it is non air conditioned.

Second Sitting (2S): Second class sitting. It provides only sitting accommodation with bench style seats.

Now you can not only search but also book your train tickets through ICICI Bank. Just select from the choice of trains displayed on the search results page to see availability details. You can click the Book button for bookings.

Click here to navigate.

We connect real time to the Indian Railways reservation system to fetch the latest availability data.

On the search results page, click on the train of your choice to see the stations the train passes through and the times at which it arrives and departs.

Yes, you can board the train if your status is RAC. Usually the RAC passengers are allotted the berths which remain vacant due to some reserved passengers not showing up at the time of departure of the train.

When a particular train is selected, the availability status for different days will be displayed which will help you to choose between different dates.

This is because only those stations are shown in the list through which at least one of the trains passes.

It is simple two step process:Enter the registered mobile number with IRCTC and request for OTPEnter IRCTC Registered User ID and OTP

Search for a registration e-mail from care@irctc.co.in in your list of potential mailboxes (which has been used for IRCTC registration).

If that does not work, please send an e-mail to care@irctc.co.in with your e-mail address requesting for the same.

Login to www.irctc.co.in and recheck the mobile number used in the IRCTC profile.

In case the mobile number & e-mail address is changed, please update the same in the IRCTC profile.

Please login to your IRCTC account at irctc.co.in and update your profile.

If this does not help, please send an e-mail to care@irctc.co.in

Yes. You just need to enter the mobile number and OTP for authentication.

We register the User at ICICI Bank with Mobile Number and IRCTC User ID so that when the User initiates the next search process, this information will help to recognise the User.

Please click ‘Resend OTP’ link which will help in regenerating the OTP.

Please de-link the earlier registration using ‘De-link IRCTC Account’ option. Once done, please follow the ‘Linking process’ with the new mobile number.

The failure can be due to:

1. User ID entered is not registered with IRCTC. In this case, please click Sign UP to register User ID with IRCTC.
2. You have already been registered.

The failure can be due to:

1. User Name is already registered. In this case, please use the ‘Check Username’ Functionality which will help in repeating the entire process again.
2. E-mail ID already registered. You are trying to create a different User ID with an e-mail ID already registered with IRCTC.
3. Mobile Number already registered. You are trying to create a different User ID with the mobile number already registered with IRCTC.

You need to first select the train, post which the seat availability for the train will be displayed. Select the seat to book.

Once you see the seat availability, you can then select the same to book. You may not be able to see the seat availability due to:

• You are trying to book the train between <23:30 – 12:30 and 08:00 – 12:00> hours. The Indian Railways reservation system does not allow to book trains during this period through agents.
• The seat cannot be booked as all the ‘waitlist’ quota has been filled. In this case, you will see ‘Booking Closed’ in the availability status.

As per IRCTC Guidelines, E-Ticket can be booked through agents.

As per IRCTC Guidelines, train journeys can be booked from the selected source and destination only.

You can book your train tickets 60 days before the scheduled departure of the train. For some inter-city day trains, the advanced reservation period is lesser than 60 days.

You can book tickets till the time of chart preparation for the train, which is normally 4 hours before the scheduled departure of the train from the train originating station. For trains which start before 12 noon, the chart preparation is usually done on the previous night.

You can book 6 passengers including children and senior citizens on one ticket.

Yes, you can book waitlisted and RAC e–tickets as well. However, there is no guarantee that your seats will get confirmed before the departure of the train.

We’re sorry to hear about it. We will refund your money once the refund is processed by IRCTC, in case the payment is processed. However, we will not be able to help you book the ticket offline as per IRCTC guidelines.

Don’t worry, your seat is confirmed. In some booking classes such as AC First Class and Executive class (in case of Shatabdi trains), the railways does not assign any seat number till the chart preparation of the train. You will get to know your coach and seat number through the charts.

With the ‘Check PNR status’ facility, you can confirm the status of the ticket. But we strongly recommend that you check the PNR status 4 hours before the departure of the train. Just visit www.icicibank.com/irctc and Click on Book now -> Check PNR .Enter your PNR number to get the latest status.

ID proof is not required when booking but you will still need to carry a valid ID proof to confirm your identity when you travel.

If the ‘Auto Upgradation’ checkbox is selected while booking a ticket, then you will be eligible for an upgrade.

The Train booking is available as below:

1. 12:30AM – 08:00 AM
2. 12:00PM – 11.30 PM

Sorry, you cannot choose your seat/ berth number. The berths and coaches are allotted by Indian Railways and we have no control over this allocation.

Just visit www.icicibank.com/irctc . Click on Book now -> Check PNR ,enter your PNR number to get the latest status.

You can book train tickets for anyone using your Credit Card. The only documents travelers need to carry are a copy of their e–ticket and an identity proof.

For added security, we route all international cards through a ‘Verified by Visa/ MasterCard Secure’ gateway, where you have to enter additional authentication information (Date of Birth, ATM PIN, Internet Banking password, etc.) on the bank’s website. This is to curb the high incidence of fraud with international cards.

We recently made a change in our payment system to reject payments that skip the authentication step. If you happened to skip the additional authentication step, you should see a ‘Payment Rejected’ error message after being directed back to ICICI Bank. Click on the ‘Continue’ button and try with a fresh set of payment details.

You can:

• Retry with the international Credit Card, but please complete the authentication procedure.
• Try with a Credit Card issued in India.
• Try paying via a Net Banking account or a Debit Card.

Any one of the passengers traveling on the ticket may carry the photo ID proof.

No. Railways only accepts the original ID proof.

When you search for trains between two cities, we show the fare between the stations we think are most popular in those cities. But if the booking and/ or destination station you choose is different from those stations, the fare may differ.

As per IRCTC guidelines, the Senior Citizen discount will be given to:

1. Male: Age of 60 years onwards
2. Female: Age of 58 years onwards

Apart from the ICICI Bank service fee and the processing fee, the fare includes:

• Base fare
• Reservation fee
• Superfast fee
• Development charges
• Concession if any
• IRCTC service fee
• Tatkal charges, if using tatkal quota

The transaction fee will be charged on the total amount you pay, after deducting any discounts. We charge a processing fee of 1.8% on the booking amount which is inclusive of all taxes.

Sure we can. The total price of each ticket comprises of:

• Base fare: This is simply the base fare of the train ticket. Children and senior women are charged 50% of the adult base fare. Senior men are charged 70% of the base fare.
• Railway charges: These are Reservation Charges, Superfast Charges, Other Charges, Tatkal Charges (if any) and GST.
• IRCTC Charges: No charges
• ICICI Bank fee: We charge a service fee of Rs. 20 for Non–AC classes and Rs. 40 for AC classes, for bringing to you a fast and friendly interface to search and book tickets.
• Payment Gateway (PG) fee: Transaction fee is 1.8% of the total of the above components. Payment gateways charge us this amount for processing your transaction. IRCTC charges a similar transaction fee, if you choose to book through them.

Cancelling train tickets you booked on ICICI Bank site is super easy.

Here’s how:

• Go to the Train booking page on www.icicibank.com/irctc
• Click on Book now and go to “My Bookings”
• Enter the IRCTC User Id used for booking the tickets and OTP received in registered mobile number
• List of all uncompleted trips will be populated
• Select the journey and proceed
• Review the cancellations once you have selected the passengers and proceed for confirmationWe will process your refund within 10 working days.

Yes, partial cancellations are supported. Just follow the cancellation procedure noted above, pick the passenger[s] you want to cancel and hit the cancel button.

No, e–tickets cannot be cancelled at railway reservation counters. You can cancel the tickets online through your ICICI Bank account page till chart preparation or offline, if the charts are prepared, by sending an e-mail to service.irctc@icicibank.com. If you face any problems with cancellations, please call our 24X7 Customer Care on 040 – 30925444.

Indian Railways allows cancellation of unused e–tickets up to 3 hours from the departure of the train. In order to cancel the e– ticket, please send an e-mail to service.irctc@icicibank.com with the required details. Any cancellation request sent post 3 hour of the train departure time will not be considered as a valid request and no refund will be processed as per IRCTC guidelines.

Yes. Please send an e-mail to service.irctc@icicibank.com with the required details up to 3 hours from the train departure time. Any request sent post 3 hour of the train departure time will not be considered as a valid request and no refund will be processed as per IRCTC guidelines.

You cannot cancel your tickets online after the chart preparation. Please send an e-mail to service.irctc@icicibank.com with the required details up to 3 hours from the train departure time. Any request sent post 3 hour of the train departure time will not be considered as a valid request and no refund will be processed as per IRCTC guidelines.

Once we receive the refund confirmation from IRCTC, we will refund the amount to your account. Please note that IRCTC takes approximately 90 days to refund the amount in such cases.

The amendments in passenger name is possible only if any of the blood relative wants to travel in place of the booked passenger. Changes can be made by approaching the nearest railway reservation counter with your e–ticket printout and valid photo ID proof and blood relation proof of the passengers who are willing to travel in place of the booked passenger. Please note that amendments are allowed till 24 hours before the scheduled departure of the train and can be made only once per ticket. Processing of amendment request is at sole discretion of the railway authorities.

Indian railways does not allow amendment of age in the e-ticket. The ticket examiner may still allow you to travel if the difference in the actual and typed age is not much.

You cannot amend your tickets online. Railways support one–time amendment in the boarding station and passenger name (only passenger’s blood relatives are allowed to replace the passenger). To amend your ticket, you can approach the nearest railway reservation counter with your e–ticket printout and the valid photo ID proof of any of the passengers, 24 hours before the departure of the train.

Please use ‘Check PNR’ functionality to check the latest status of PNR. In case it is not cancelled, raise the cancellation request again. If the status is cancelled then the refund will be given within 10 working days post receipt of the refund from IRCTC.

This can be due to:

1. Account Closed/ Dormant/ Inactive & Credit Card closed. We process the refund using same mode as used for booking the transaction. In such cases, we refund the amount back to IRCTC. Please contact IRCTC Customer service.
2. The refund is not processed by IRCTC within the stipulated time frame.

Yes. You are required to carry valid ID proof of any one passenger when you travel.

Here is the list of ID proofs which railways considers valid:

• Passport
• Driving License
• PAN Card
• Voters ID card
• Photo ID card issued by the Central or State Govt. to their employees

You can print another one by logging into your ICICI Bank account.

Yes. For latest baggage rules,  http://www.indianrail.gov.in/luggage_Rule.html

Offensive articles, explosive, dangerous, inflammable articles, empty gas cylinders, dead poultry, acids and other corrosive substance are not permitted.