[ghodlur]

Slightly OT.

Is there any specific app (govt approved) for Indian railways which gives the train updates on Real time basis on coach position, time of arrival, present location etc.

I had an experience recently on my return journey from Mantralayam Road to Thane few days back. I had booking in coach S9 in the Chennai-Dadar Express and had checked the coach position in the indianrailinfo.com website which showed the position to be behind S10, 6 coaches behind the engine. However on arrival at the Mantralayam Rd station, found the S9 coach nowhere near the S10 coach but after S1 coach which was 4 coaches at the end of the train. Had to literally scamper to the coach to board the train. I thanked myself for travelling light, hence was able to board the train which halts only for 2 minutes. With few more train trips coming in the coming months and some heavy luggage with me, I would like to keep myself updated to avoid such an issue.

Kindly let me know the correct app for the android phone.

Mods: If this does not belong here, please move the same to Android thread presently active.

[binand]

Originally Posted by ghodlur

Is there any specific app (govt approved) for Indian railways which gives the train updates on Real time basis on coach position, time of arrival, present location etc.

www.trainenquiry.com is IR-blessed. Not sure if it gives out everything you want, but I find it invaluable. Works just fine as a mobile-optimized website too.

[sdp1975]

I've seen coach position being wrongly displayed at railway stations. Visitors coming to receive me wait at one end while the coach is at another end.

So if the station gets the coach position wrong, I'm not sure if any app can get it right.

[ghodlur]

Originally Posted by sdp1975

So if the station gets the coach position wrong, I'm not sure if any app can get it right.

This might be the case for the smaller stations enroute. For the stations in major Metros, I assume the coach position will be fairly accurate unless the coaches get added during the journey at major junction stations.

For eg, when I board the trains either at Thane or Kalyan Junctions, the coach position is known and displayed on the indicators which makes it fairly easy to be positioned at the correct bogie nos. The funny part is at both the junctions, the coach positions are still written with chalk on the blackboard which is quite naive. A simple way would be to send SMS to the mobile number used during booking with details about the coach positioning some way similar to IRCTC booking details sent. I know this will be too much for asking from Indian Railways.

[BoneCollector]

Originally Posted by ghodlur

Kindly let me know the correct app for the android phone.
.

You can try NTES, eRail and Rail yatri , then decide which one to hold on to. I use these for different purposes. I even use a very handy site, m.indiarailinfo.com

[TKMCE]

Originally Posted by ghodlur

Slightly OT.

Is there any specific app (govt approved) for Indian railways which gives the train updates on Real time basis on coach position, time of arrival, present location etc.

I had an experience recently on my return journey from Mantralayam Road to Thane few days back. I had booking in coach S9 in the Chennai-Dadar Express and had checked the coach position in the indianrailinfo.com website which showed the position to be behind S10, 6 coaches behind the engine. However on arrival at the Mantralayam Rd station, found the S9 coach nowhere near the S10 coach but after S1 coach which was 4 coaches at the end of the train. Had to literally scamper to the coach to board the train. I thanked myself for travelling light, hence was able to board the train which halts only for 2 minutes. With few more train trips coming in the coming months and some heavy luggage with me, I would like to keep myself updated to avoid such an issue.

I had an equally bad experience 20 days back at Aluva station where again the stoppage of almost all express trains is just two minutes. Please refer my post #638 in the same thread. If station staff cannot upate information properly, it is sheer irresponsibility as unlike last minute platform changes coach positions generally do not change between stations in the same train especially when the last major junction has been crossed about three hours back. I am no fan of Indian railways and prefer buses whenever possible and such incidents make it even worse for me as I had reserved in advance and had two heavy bags and nearly missed the train.

[maddy42]

I dont want to sound rude but i believe this bogie location is something which will remain confusing for quiet sometime. Its irresponsibility of both the railways as well as the local station in charge for the same.

I feel some member of the local station should be on the platform when the train departs. This way any mishaps can be prevented.

On another note: Do take the help of the porters in station. This prevents confusion and your not left lugging your bags along. Use it till it lasts. They are a dying breed.

Maddy

[TKMCE]

Maddy

I think what you have said is very sensible. Porters are generally very helpful. Next time I will definitely use them especially when boarding from enroute stations where halts are very brief.

[BenjiRoss]

I have a query on specifying boarding point when booking an e-ticket. There's been a couple of posts about this on the forum, but I'm a little perplexed.
I need to travel KPD - DIN: the ticket on this is waitlisted.
However MAS - DIN is available on the same train. Can I choose this train and on the screen where I enter passenger details, I can specify boarding point as KPD.
If the booking is successful, can I be assured that I can board at KPD or will the TTE give the seat to someone else on the waiting list at MAS

[binand]

Originally Posted by BenjiRoss

I need to travel KPD - DIN: the ticket on this is waitlisted.
However MAS - DIN is available on the same train. Can I choose this train and on the screen where I enter passenger details, I can specify boarding point as KPD.
If the booking is successful, can I be assured that I can board at KPD or will the TTE give the seat to someone else on the waiting list at MAS

If you specify Katpadi at the time of booking, you will be allocated from Katpadi quota which will be waitlisted (as you say).

But I think if you book the ticket from Chennai itself (boarding at Chennai) and later on visit a PRS to change boarding point to Katpadi your quota allocation (Chennai) will not change and you are assured of a berth when you board from Katpadi. Your downside is slightly higher fare (you will pay for the seat from Chennai onwards) and the mandatory visit to the PRS. The TTE is free to allocate the seat to someone who is travelling Chennai-Katpadi, but not to anyone who is travelling beyond that.

At least, this is what I remember. I might be wrong (since its been a while since I looked at any of this).

Edit: Which station is DIN? If you meant Dindigul, its code is DG.

[ILTDrive]

Originally Posted by BenjiRoss

, I can specify boarding point as KPD.
If the booking is successful, can I be assured that I can board at KPD or will the TTE give the seat to someone else on the waiting list at MAS

Yes, you can specify the boarding point to whatever is convenient for you, however you will be charged from the station you have booked for the ticket and not from boarding point. Small fees, considering you get a confirmed seat. We have done this in the past and our seats were vacant when we boarded.

[ravib]

Originally Posted by ILTDrive

Yes, you can specify the boarding point to whatever is convenient for you, however you will be charged from the station you have booked for the ticket and not from boarding point. Small fees, considering you get a confirmed seat. We have done this in the past and our seats were vacant when we boarded.

If i am not wrong, one correction to the above point. The above holds good, if your boarding station is only one next station. In this case, between Madras and Katpadi, there is Arakkonam junction and if the passenger is not showing up till Arakkonam, i think TTE can allocate the berth to any RAC passenger.

-Ravi

[Gannu_1]

Originally Posted by Gannu_1

Platform tickets would cost Rs 10 starting April 1.

Heard that people are buying the cheapest passenger train ticket for Rs. 5! Beat that!

So platform tickets might just go back to the old fare.

[binand]

Originally Posted by Gannu_1

Heard that people are buying the cheapest passenger train ticket for Rs. 5! Beat that! So platform tickets might just go back to the old fare.

Or the cheapest passenger train ticket might just go up to Rs. 10. Which is more likely? :-)

[msdivy]

IRCTC has increased service charge:

IRCTC is necessity, not luxury. Why do they have charge for booking ticket?