there could be a tax in place for the mela....its just a guess....

I'm going to bring up a relatively older thread, since it seems most relevant.

With great difficulty, was finally able to build a Delhi - Agra and return on the IRCTC website, both ways with a confirmed reservation in 1A on a Superfast Express, but a couple of questions for this:

1. On one train, on the e-ticket, coach is blank, and seat/berth is 0000 (and says CNF for both if I check PNR status). If I understood correctly when calling to ask about this, they should give us seats when they prepare the chart. Is that correct? Since there are two of us (on the same PNR), will they likely have us together?
2. On the return, they did assign seats, but they seem to not be together (same coach, seat 2 & 32). On the phone, they suggested the only thing we could do was ask when boarding with another passenger if we could switch. Is there anyway they might change us to be together at charting, given we are on the same PNR? I was told they would not be able to change our seats at all (even though we were assigned seats apart by the system).

Now, on a separate trip, I'm trying to book a Chennai to Kumbakonam ticket, was hoping to do this before 10am this morning to beat those trying to get tatkal seats (I'm booking in advance) and have some other question:

1. System seems to be down (can't get on IRCTC site) and when I try to check availability on Cleartrip, it says IRCTC systems are down 8am to noon. Is this normal (I thought 11:30pm to 00:30 was the downtime). Anyway to know in advance when the site is actually open to book?
2. On the first booking, both Cleartrip and IRCTC refused to take my foreign (US - Chase-issued) Visa - I had to use my Citi (India) debit card, which I prefer not to do. I understand now Cleartrip will decline if booking the train and there is no Verified by Visa authentication (Chase/VBV said I couldn't set up a password - Cleartrip actually put the charge through, then refunded - I know I've successfully done it for air bookings). IRCTC refused the card, even from international card gateways. Is it just I can't use a foreign card for the train (I live here...for now...what do foreigners who don't have a local card do)?
3. Speaking of ClearTrip, is there a clear benefit to using them (or MakeMyTrip...or whatever online travel site) rather than the IRCTC site? Otherwise, even though I'm not confident this would happen, at least I could try for an auto-upgrade if booking thorugh the IRCTC site.

Thanks in advance for the help.

I'll address a couple of your questions. Regarding the seat assignments, if I remember right from our trip last year, we had a similar notice (confirmed reservation, but no seat assignment). The seats were assigned within a couple hours of departure (check the posted sheets at the train station), and we were seated together.

Regarding the credit card, IIRC, the only way were able to book through the IRCTC website was to use our US-based AMEX card. If you have an AMEX, give that a try.

Usually yes, unless you have specified some preferences ( window / aisle).. But even if they are not together, you can speak to the adjoining person and usually they will not mind to change if the other seat is similar / better.

Nope, I dont think so and as mentioned above, should not be a problem.

Hmmm..I recall seeing some alerts on the irctc site earlier..

I know of some folks who get the tickets issued through a colleague / friend and carry a letter during the trip.. IIRC there was another thread somewhere here on using foreign credit cards for rail bookings.. @:-)

Other than sundry promos which may be available in those sites, no other benefit..
Upgrades work on FIFO basis.. so say if 100 bookings in AC 2 tier , so if an upgrade is needed it will be given to the pnr with the 1st AC 2 tier seat, then the 2nd one and so forth..

This makes sense on the upgrades. Not expecting it (though is always nice). Are you sure about the last sentence though. Don't know about the other online agencies, but Cleartrip has an FAQ that specifically states that auto-upgradation isn't possible on tickets booked through them. Even on the IRCTC site, you have to specifically check the box to be considered for it.

I am aware of the checkbox on the irctc site for being considered for upgrades.. but was not aware that this option is not there on the cleartrip or other sites.. if its not there, then that means they don't check the box by default .. ( would have been very easy in the API, but anyway)..
I hv edited my post below..

This matches with my experience, too. If you're in 1A, and booked together as a pair, you may also score the 'coupé' (2-berth compartment), particularly if you share a surname - though this may depend on the configuration (is it a shared 1A/2A carriage or all 1A). It seems that 1A quite often has seat assignment held back until charting.

Also, I've had success only with Amex.

Instead of the agencies, I'd recommend the sites http://www.erail.in/ and https://www.indiarailinfo.com/.

The former gives very easy at-a-glance availability and price lookups. The latter gives much more in-depth information, including alternative routes and likelihood of waitlists/RAC clearing. You can then go ahead and book on IRCTC.

Supposedly there's going to be a big improvement to booking during the Tatkal release period (10:00 IST?) I don't know how much truth there is in that...

I'm going to be in India for a month soon, flying in to BOM then travelling south, moving East and finally flying out from Dehli to Hong Kong.

Just wondering if most people's preference is to fly or train between the main cities?

We've heard good things about the trains and not so good things about hours and hours of delays at the airpoirts. Then again with no delays a 1 hour flight means more time in the city than a 10 hour train ride would allow.

They are good trains between the main cities and the 1st AC and 2nd AC coaches are quite decent..
If you have time and want to see the real and rural India, then nothing compares to a train journey..
Airport & train delays are also relatively less unless its Dec / Jan when many parts of North India have dense fogs..
Personally, I prefer train journeys whenever I have the luxury of time..

I was able to use the seat61 method and it worked like a charm.

Can you expand or point in the right direction for what this means?

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

Basically make a cleartrip account and then email Indian railways and ask for a mobile code to activate

Got it. Thanks. Great site!

FYI always check to see that a few tickets on your train have been sold before booking it if not there may be a problem with booking it on the railways site which means cleartrip will fail also.

> On one train, on the e-ticket, coach is blank, and seat/berth is 0000
> (and says CNF for both if I check PNR status).

Seats will be assigned when the chart is prepared. You'll MOSTLY be seated together, if not you'll just have to request someone sitting next to you to move to the other seat so that you can sit together. If the other seat (and berth) is as good as the one the person is vacating, he/she typically won't mind.

> 2. On the return, they did assign seats, but they seem to not be together
> (same coach, seat 2 & 32). On the phone, they suggested the only thing

Yes, you can ask someone to switch with you. Seats once assigned are final in the system and won't be changed around.

> 1. System seems to be down (can't get on IRCTC site) and when I try to
> check availability on Cleartrip, it says IRCTC systems are down 8am to
> noon. Is this normal (I thought 11:30pm to 00:30 was the downtime).

IRCTC restricts access to its site through third party booking portals during Tatkal hours. Which means you can't use Cleartrip or similar to book during that time. IRCTC tends to be slow and crawl - so try again after a few minutes and you might be in luck.

> even from international card gateways. Is it just I can't use a foreign
> card for the train (I live here...for now...what do foreigners who
> don't have a local card do)?

I've booked with a foreign card several times from when I used to work for a Hong Kong based company and lived in India with a HK issued cc. That card supported verified by visa and so things worked fine. There's a Reserve Bank of India mandate that requires online credit card transactions to use two factor authentication. So if your card doesn't support it, you're out of luck. You can also use Amex, which has a different form of auth that works fine.

> 3. Speaking of ClearTrip, is there a clear benefit to using them (or
> MakeMyTrip...or whatever online travel site) rather than the IRCTC site?

It is easier to use those portals is all. No other benefit. Yes - the auto upgrade won't happen, but that's about it.