WendyandPeter

We want to take the overnight train from Delhi to Kathgodan (the Raniket Express) on Monday 29 January 2007 and want to return on 9 February. I have been on the web site but don't seem to be able to book any more than 2 months ahead. Is it possible to book further ahead or should I just leave making the booking to later? How does the booking work? Do they mail or email confirmation/reservation documentation?

Yaatri

February would be slow time for travel to Kathgodam. If you aited to book them after your arrival in Delhi, you shouldn't have any problem. I have never booked train tickets on line. If you are unable to book them on line try booking them in Delhi. There is a Foreign Tourist Quota too if you are unable to find seats in trhe General Quota. Are you going to Naini Tal or Jim Corbett Park?

WendyandPeter

Thanks for your reply. We are going to Corbett Park.

Yaatri

Oh tickets under foreign tourist quota can be bought from the reservation office near New Delhi station. The reservation is not in the station building, nor is it physically attached to it. The two are on the same street.
I had looked at summer travel to Pathankot (for Dharamsala) and Kalka(for Simla). Even during the summer when the trains are heavily booked, seats were available under foreign tourist quota. You have to pay for those tickets either in foreign currency, such as $, Euros etc or, if you pay in Rs, you should have a receipt to show that to converted foreign currency equal to or more than the cost of the ticket into Rs.

If you have an address in India and credit card, you can book on line under genereal quota. The tickets will be mailed to that address. I think the address on the credit card has to be in India, but I am not sure about that. I think they do have e-tickets now, I am not sure how it works though.

In the worst scenarion, if you can't get train tickets, there might be taxis avaiavleble. I was looking at a taxi from Dehradun to Delhi. The train fare was going to be about Rs 2000 for three adults and two children. The taxi was going to coat about Rs 3000, only about $23 more.

wfb

I recently booked online four legs of a train journey. It was less than 2 months in advance, so I don't know the time limit of advance booking. These two sites were very helpful with instructions:

http://www.seat61.com/India.htm#book...from%20outside

http://www.indiamike.com/india/showthread.php?t=4305

fabricoftruth

You can book all your tickets online - they have e-tickets, so you do not need the Indian mailing address that Yaatri mentioned (that was for i-tickets). You can book online at www.irctc.co.in (You will need to register, but it works fine). I have used this several times in the last few months and it works just fine - whats even better, I had to cancel a few tickets and it was the easiest cancellation I have done in a looooong time!

Also, you cannot book rail tickets more than 60 days in advance.

In case the irctc website is acting up while you are planning this, you could also find information on fares, routes, availability etc on www.indianrail.gov.in

Cheers,
FoT

hserus

Old thread but I might point out for the record that www.cleartrip.com lets you book trains as well.

jbalmuth

I tried to book tickets on cleartrip and found that they wouldn't accept any of my various U.S. issued credit cards. I then started over at www.irctc.co.in and the transaction went through on the first try.

I perfectly understand the need for effective credit card security, but limiting purchases to only those with credit cards issued in India or certain small banks --- excluding Citibank, Chase, AMEX, Capital One etc. --- doesn't provide a useful service to many, if not most, international travelers.

hserus

Cleartrip accepts non Indian cards (I use a Hong Kong issued card) just fine - IF that card is visa or amex, and registered for Verified by Visa / Mastercard Securecode.

If the card isn't registered for those it will simply fail the transaction rather than redirect you to your bank's page and ask you whether you want to signup for VbV / Securecode.

Its out there in the cleartrip faq somewhere.

painintheuk

Hi all,

Is this information still up to date? It sounds like the best way to book the train is an e-ticket through www.irctc.co.in. As mentioned they definitely want a lot of personal information! I don't know how accurate it has to be, though.

As a followup, what class should I choose? How different are they? AC 1? 2? 3? Sleeper? What is the most comfortable, most private, safest? I will be traveling alone with minimal (but not 0) luggage, and will likely be exhausted from my flight from home. The train is in the afternoon and takes about 4 hours I think. I would actually prefer an earlier train, but not all classes are available.

Finally, with an e-ticket, how early should I arrive? I will be at the Courtyard Gurgaon the night before.

Thanks

Dr. PITUK

hserus

It had better be accurate - its there to prevent card fraud, especially with international cards if your details dont match up an audit might flag your card and cancel the ticket on you.

Indian trains may be crowded so pick the highest class you have availability in (or the lowest waitlist in). AC1 -> AC2 -> AC3 -> Sleeper.

AC1 is lockable coupes (with a door), with 2 or 4 seats per coupe.
AC2 is open plan with 2 x 2 seats + berths facing each other
AC3 is open plan with 3 x 3 seats + berths facing each other
Sleeper is like AC3 but not aircon

abhilife2001

+1..

abhilife2001

I hv booked countless tickets thru this site over the years ..( the last one arnd 1 month back)..
train rides in india is quite quite cheap compared to any intl train journeys and its best to book AC classes.. the higher the better ..
Unless u r booking many days in advance u may find tickets on waiting list though and u need to check and try ur options..
But the good thing is irctc has a much better interface now compared to earlier and is very easy to use now..^

E-ticket is like a paper ticket itself and hence u shd arrive before the train leaves and thts fine..trains normally come into the platform about 20-30 mins before the scheduled time of departure and anytime between that till train leaving is fine ... be sure to take into account the time to reach the train station from gurgaon though and also see which exact station the train departs from as DEL has lots of these..

scubadave

I have booked with www.cleartrip.com. It worked fine with my belgian Visa Card. You get an e ticket in your mailbox. They ask a small fee but I found it easier to book with them than with Indian railways.

abhilife2001

though I have never booked thru cleartrip or makeytrip.com, I believe they r also ok..
But do check out the new interface for irctc.co.in.. I logged in to buy tickets online abt 1 month back after few months and was pleasantly surprised.. also refunds etc have never been a problem..^