Railway reservation is now easy with the use of internet and online railway booking system. Earlier, we used to queue up several hours before ticket window waiting for our turn to come so that we could book our train ticket to a particular destination but with online train booking, things have been very easy. From the comfort of our home, we can now do railway reservation to our favorite destination within a minute.
Railway Reservation
Here are few advantages of online railway reservation in comparison to the offline ticket counters at railway station :
- It is easy, fast, convenient for everyone.
- Indian railways seat availability checking is now very simple. You don’t need to ask the staff and face his rudeness sometimes. Now checking for train availability online is lot more easy even if you don’t know details about your train number.
- Anyone can easily do railway reservation from anywhere i.e. from home, office, on the go.
- No need to wait and stand in queue for your turn to come.
- you can enquire railway pnr status online also.
- No involvement of middlemen and commission agents since you can do it easily online as it is very simple to do train reservation from the official website, thereby saving your hard-earned money.
- All types of tickets can be booked online be it 1st tier ac or 2nd class ac or 3rd class ac or sleeper or general. Even Tatkal tickets can be booked online easily. Online railway reservation tickets are called as e-tickets generally.
- You can also check train routes online which is very helpful if you want to know when will you reach a particular railway station. This particular thing is not possible offline generally.
Indian railways have more than 7083 train stations and is the world’s 4th largest rail network. It is operated by government of India and offers various facilities and jobs to millions. More than a million people travel via trains daily. Knowing this, railway reservation has always been cumbersome task but with facilitation of railway reservation online, everything has now been easy.
There are several types of rail reservation which depends on your preference and cost factor. These ticket or seat types include various association facilities.
Types of Railway Reservation
- 1A – The first class Ac train reservation is the most costly of all types of railway reservation. Also such tickets are provided only on popular and metropolitan routes. Such coaches have full cabin like features, sleeping facilities and privacy like personal coupes.
- 2A -AC – Two tier – Less expensive than 1A. Provided with sleeping berths, curtains, bedding and fooding.
- FC – First class – This is same as 1 A without ac facility.
- 3A – AC – Three tier – Less expensive than 2A. Air conditioned coaches. Sleeping berths.
- 3E – AC three tier Economy – Air conditioned coaches with sleeping facility but cheaper than 3A present in Garib Rath trains (Fully Air conditioned train with affordable fair for common man.)
- CC - ac chair car – for traveling between cities as it come with seating facility only.
- SL – The most common railway reservation type. People sit in these coaches during daytime while they sleep during nights. It is inexpensive, affordable and most widely preferred by Indian population.
- 2S – Same as AC car but without air conditioning.
- UR - Unreserved – Entry into these coaches are guaranteed if you have a ticket but seat is not. This type of ticket is the cheapest one and always available to buy or book.
How to Make Railway Reservation
To book rail / train tickets online, you have to open the official irctc.co.in , register there, check railways seat availability online, book your train eticket, pay using netbanking, cash cards or debit card or atm card, take a printout of the e-ticket.
Do remember to bring any photo – id proof (voter card, pan card, driving license, etc) when you travel on train as this is necessary to show to TT i.e. ticket collector / ticket checker for verification purposes.