Team-BHP - Indian Railways Thread | Info, Queries & Reviews

After using the App to book 6 MRTS unreserved tickets over last 3 weeks, I feel this is quite useful. Ofcourse, keeping GPS out of the picture can reduce a serious pain-point.

Try booking from inside the office and it says "GPS signal is weak. Go outside". Fair enough.

When you go out and get the same message, you wonder whether you need to now go to outer space now. :Frustrati

Today I started trying for a ticket (Park to TidelPark) from outside Central station, but even after reaching Park station, kept getting the weak-GPS signal message. Continued trying the ticket from the station and got this message "You have to be 25m away from a station/track and within 5km of the boarding station to be able to book the ticket".

Now I understand what they were using the GPS coordinates for. But anyone knows why they need to have this condition in place ? What will go wrong if I book from a station ?

Quote:

Originally Posted by supremeBaleno

1) Charging the wallet was a pain. Two charges using Debit-Card failed, but money was debited from account in 1 transaction. Not sure whom to go after to get back this money - UTS or my bank ?

No refund from bank for a couple days. Then found that the money got credited to my UTS account. So, this is resolved.

Quote:

Originally Posted by supremeBaleno (Post 3775220)

But anyone knows why they need to have this condition in place ? What will go wrong if I book from a station?

Maybe they want folks to book before entering a station rather than booking before they get caught without ticket. That's the only thing I can think of.

:OT Did a quick search, and did not find another thread.

If all of us can give our feedback, I think they might improve :)

Recently took the Mangalore mail from Chennai to Kuttipuram, and this is my 3r or 4th trip on this train spaced couple of years apart. Every time I noticed that the entire train was unclean and ill kept. On one occasion I thought at least the first class might be better, sadly it was as bad as the rest of the coaches.

So this time, when I found the coaches to be bad, I raised a complaint on http://www.coms.indianrailways.gov.in/, and they did acknowledge and respond back(not to my satisfaction, but they tried to explain and say it would be taken care!!).

Apart from this after each journey, I got a call asking about the cleanliness of the platforms , and also on the punctuality of the train!!

Should say a good move if they follow-up on the concerns.

Quote:

Originally Posted by adhiraj (Post 3827002)

Hi Guys,

I need to book a TATKAL ticket for a train which I would be boarding on 20th October at 2.00 in the morning. When will the window for Tatkal open for this? 18th or 19th Oct?

Thanks

This depends on whether the station you are boarding is the origin station of the train or not. If your boarding station is the origin point of the train, then bookings for this journey will open on 19th Oct morning. If it is an intermediate station, then the bookings will open one day before the train's departure from origin station.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Klub Class (Post 3827042)

Use the Magic Autofill for IRCTC service to quickly book the tatkal ticket (you can save the passenger name, age and other details beforehand and save time) :thumbs up:thumbs up

Its a life saver, but as someone mentioned few pages back, the captcha s are very difficult during Tatkal bookings. Also if you can somehow manage to get past one while booking, the one during payment through cc makes sure you dont get the ticket :Frustrati

Is there anyway where you can reduce the time during payment like pre storing card details?

Children aged 5-12 will be charged full berth fare from April 2016.

If a separate berth is not sought - half the fare will be charged - meaning that your kid can share your berth by paying 50% adult fare . I don't understand the rational , why pay any money if there's no berth allotted ? Looks like a money minting scheme.

With the rapid increase in railway fares , rail travel is becoming increasingly unattractive for me. I would spend almost same if I travel by road from Bangalore to Kolkata , as compared to AC 3 Tier. I have 2 kids with me. Railways has been losing passenger traffic to road/air and these moves will only add to that. Some would spend extra and prefer air travel than spending 36 hours in train.

There's a possibility of other concessions like the Senior Citizen concession going away soon.

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper...cle7950377.ece

http://www.thehansindia.com/posts/in...n-2-yrs-191226

Height of open public loot by Railways.

Had booked train tickets for my wife and son for a trip from Pune to Thane. The cost of the fare was Rs 160/-. Today morning I cancelled it and the cancellation charges applied was Rs 120/- (flat charges of Rs 60 per person) which is 75% of the fare cost even though I have cancelled 5 days in advance from DOJ. A refund of Rs 40/- was applicable to me. :Frustrati

What kind of a joke is this? When I read the Cancellation norms, the most beneficial was to cancel between 48hrs and upto 12 hrs before journey where cancellation charges would have been 25% of the fare cost. I ended up paying 75% of the fare cost. Hopeless logic by hopeless Railways/IRCTC.

Quote:

If a confirmed ticket is cancelled more than 48 hrs before the scheduled departure of the train, flat cancellation charges shall be deducted @ Rs.240/- for AC First Class/Executive Class, Rs.200/- for AC 2 Tier/First Class, Rs. 180 for AC 3 Tier/AC Chair car/ AC 3 Economy, Rs.120/- for Sleeper Class and Rs.60/- for Second Class. Cancellation charges are per passenger. If a confirmed ticket is cancelled within 48 hrs and up to 12 hours before the scheduled departure of the train, cancellation charges shall be 25% of the fare subject to the minimum flat rate mentioned in the above clause. Less than 12 hours and upto four hours before the scheduled departure of the train up to chart preparation which is earlier, 50% of the fare paid subject to the minimum cancellation charges.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ghodlur (Post 3865904)

When I read the Cancellation norms, the most beneficial was to cancel between 48hrs and upto 12 hrs before journey where cancellation charges would have been 25% of the fare cost. I ended up paying 75% of the fare cost. Hopeless logic by hopeless Railways/IRCTC.

The cancellation norms state "25% of the fare subject to the minimum flat rate mentioned in the above clause". So even if you had cancelled in the 48 hrs to 12 hrs window you would have paid the same cancellation charges.

Quote:

Originally Posted by AkMar (Post 3865941)

Oh Ok. I guess I overlooked it. My bad.

But then is this correct, applying cancellation charges up to 75% of the fare cost?? It was better earlier when only the reservation charges would be used as cancellation charges.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ghodlur (Post 3865969)

The reservation system is built with long distance travelers in mind. With ticket rates of at least Rs 200 or 300. They wouldn't have expected someone reserving tickets for Pune-Thane (Rs 80). This is short distance and most probably you will be traveling by bus/train without reservation.

I'm not saying you should not reserve tickets for this trip. Just saying what the system designers would have had in their minds.