[msdivy]

Probably why the tickets were unavailable...

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has busted a racket where travel agents could book as many as 36 tickets at one time on their computers with the help of an illegal software provided by a railway official.

Link: CBI Busts Railway Ticket Booking Racket

[hserus]

Originally Posted by msdivy

Probably why the tickets were unavailable...

Link: CBI Busts Railway Ticket Booking Racket

If this was the first or only such racket where touts and agents use automated software + connive with IRCTC employees, it'd be news

Earlier in 2015 - http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/c...w/45799662.cms

2014 - http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/repor...t-scam-2022958

2012 - http://www.ndtv.com/india-news/heres...tickets-469694

2011 - http://www.ndtv.com/india-news/heres...tickets-469694

Arresting at this rate is like swatting one mosquito and hoping your home is mosquito free, you won't get dengue.

[supremeBaleno]

Till how many stations after the Source station can a traveller board the train without the TTE cancelling his reserved ticket and allotting it to someone else ?
While I keep hearing that this is for 1 or 2 stations after the source-station, is this written anywhere in the railway rules ?

[binand]

Originally Posted by supremeBaleno

Till how many stations after the Source station can a traveller board the train without the TTE cancelling his reserved ticket and allotting it to someone else ?
While I keep hearing that this is for 1 or 2 stations after the source-station, is this written anywhere in the railway rules ?

I think you have to board the train at the boarding station mentioned in the ticket or the reservation is liable to be cancelled and re-allotted.

The "1 or 2 stations" is basically TTEs taking it easy.

[shipnil]

Originally Posted by supremeBaleno

Till how many stations after the Source station can a traveller board the train without the TTE cancelling his reserved ticket and allotting it to someone else ?
While I keep hearing that this is for 1 or 2 stations after the source-station, is this written anywhere in the railway rules ?

I too have heard for 1 station he has to wait. The reason given is sometimes the person is unable to board a correct bogey and hence at the next station he could come to the correct bogey. This was quite true when the bogeys weren't connected always. Now even that time might not hold true.

[hserus]

Originally Posted by shipnil

I too have heard for 1 station he has to wait. The reason given is sometimes the person is unable to board a correct bogey and hence at the next station he could come to the correct bogey. This was quite true when the bogeys weren't connected always. Now even that time might not hold true.

In practice, the TT will often wait till the city limits of that city have been cleared .. for example if someone is to board in bangalore city, he will generally wait till KR Puram has been passed before he reallocates the berth.

[binand]

Originally Posted by hserus

In practice, the TT will often wait till the city limits of that city have been cleared .. for example if someone is to board in bangalore city, he will generally wait till KR Puram has been passed before he reallocates the berth.

My father-in-law learnt the hard way that this is not a rule. Few months back he boarded a train from KR Puram with a ticket reserved from Bangalore City - but his (preferred) lower berth was reallocated by then. The TTE then accommodated him elsewhere on the train on a no-show, SU berth.

Could be that the TTE jumped the gun. No money changed hands here though.

[supremeBaleno]

Thanks, binand / hserus / shipnil. So, it is basically just a TTE courtesy and not something in the Railway rules.

Actually I just now remembered the following Railway rule, whose existence I doubt many folks would even be aware of, and given which my previous question becomes irrelevant.

CANCELLATION OF RESERVATION DUE TO LATE ARRIVAL OF PASSENGER :
If a passenger, for whom a berth or seat has been reserved, does not turn up up to 10 minutes before the scheduled departure of the train, the Railway Administration may cancel the accommodation reserved for him and allot it to the passenger on the RAC list/Waiting list accordingly on priority. http://www.indianrail.gov.in/reservation_Rules.html

So, if your berth is subject to cancellation/reallotment due to not arriving at the source station 10mins before the departure of the train,
it goes without saying that there is no way it is guaranteed for 1 or more stations, if one goes by the rule-book.

[ravib]

Wow

All these days, i was thinking that TTE will have to wait upto next station before reallocating the berth/seat. It seems that is not the case as per rule book..

Thanks so much supremeBaleno & binand for clarifying this. This is indeed very useful information for everyone

-Ravi

[supremeBaleno]

Queues at the Chennai MRTS/Suburban ticket-counters @ peak hours can get very long (sometimes stretching out of the station leading to folks having to stand in the hot sun, like at Park station) due to Railways operating only a single counter. Apart from the long wait, by the time you buy a ticket, a few trains would have passed by. So I got myself a Season Ticket, which monetarily it is a waste since my max usage is only 8 services of Rs.5 each every month totalling Rs40, while the monthly season costs Rs120. But in terms of time saved, it is worth every Rupee.

Anyway, while I had read/heard of the possibility of booking Suburban train tickets (for Mumbai & Chennai) over phone/PC, I did not give it much thought till last week, when I saw a banner on this at the Park station. I thought this could be a game-changer as I could book tickets on demand from phone without having to stand in line, thus avoiding the need for a season ticket.

I almost registered myself on the utsonmobile site, before I thought of checking out how it works. And imagine my disappointment on reading the procedure (listed below) - point# 6 where it requires us to go to Source station, take a printout from the ATVM there, without which ticket is not valid.

I fail to understand why they have to provide a better solution and then add riders that negate the whole advantage. Why not just send the ticket to the phone instead of adding an additional ATVM into the picture ?

----------------------------------------------
1. First the passenger will get registered by providing his/her mobile number, name, city, default booking train type, class, ticket type, number of passenger and frequently travelling routes.

2. Upon successful registration, Railway Wallet (R-Wallet) will be created automatically with zero balance to the passenger. There will be no extra cost for creating R-Wallet.

3. The passenger can go to any of the UTS counter to recharge their R-Wallet.

4. Currently, booking is enabled from 20 Stations in Mumbai to all suburban Stations of Central and Western Railways and 5 Stations in Chennai to All suburban Stations of Southern Railway, the Station list is given below. The Source station list will keep on increasing day by day.

5. The passenger can book ticket through the mobile app. On booking of ticket, he/she will get Booking ID along with other ticket details. The booking details will also be available in booking history. The booking ID will also be conveyed through an SMS.

6. After this, Passenger can go to the journey originating (source) station to take ticket print out from any of the ATVM there, by entering his/her registered mobile number and booking ID. The Journey is valid only with printed ticket.

[ghodlur]

Today booked the train tickets for Jaipur in the Garib Rath for month of Nov 2015 about 120 days in advance. To my dismay found the ticket allocation was skewed, 2 tickets in serial, one isolated with 10 numbers down the list (for eg, 50,51 & 69). This had never happened in any of my earlier bookings. Is this the case with this specific train? The whole booking took me 45 secs including the payment. After 1.5 mins the booking was in WL35 from 154 open available tickets when I started.

[AkMar]

Originally Posted by supremeBaleno

I almost registered myself on the utsonmobile site, before I thought of checking out how it works. And imagine my disappointment on reading the procedure (listed below) - point# 6 where it requires us to go to Source station, take a printout from the ATVM there, without which ticket is not valid.

----------------------------------------------

6. After this, Passenger can go to the journey originating (source) station to take ticket print out from any of the ATVM there, by entering his/her registered mobile number and booking ID. The Journey is valid only with printed ticket.

This is outdated info. Paperless tickets are now launched for Chennai & Mumbai. In Mumbai it is currently available on Western line. No idea which section it covers in Chennai. You might want to check.

[supremeBaleno]

@AkMar, thanks for the tip. Indeed you are right. Checked the website today and it now lists a paper-less option too. Will try this.

[supremeBaleno]

So, I registered on the UTSonmobile site, but have had issues booking tickets :
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 ?
2) Convenience charges for debit-card is less than a rupee, while it is 11 bucks odd for netbanking. Any idea why this disparity ?
3) Did not understand the logic of them needing to locate our location (using GPS) while booking ticket ? After all the hassle of charging the wallet, when I finally went to book a ticket, it says "Not able to get location".

Also, while the UI/features is mostly same on phone-App and website, the ticket-booking option is available only on the phone-App. Why can't they provide this on the website too so that one can book from a laptop too (like IRCTC) ? Guess this has to do with item-3 above (GPS), though don't understand why they need my location.

[ghodlur]

The captcha thing on every screen on the IRCTC website is absolutely irritating. Precious moments are lost tying those things. Today while booking the tickets, 5 sec delay costed me from getting a confirmed ticket just because the I got the captcha wrong.