21 Indian Railways, IRCTC Tips and Tricks To Make Your Train Journey Easier and Safer in India

Hello, I’m Sujoy and today I’ll share some train travel hacks / tricks which I learned during my travels by trains.

1.    Getting Confirmed Ticket_Trick 1

When ticket between two stations is not available, try booking one or two stations back. Since every station has it’s own quota, you can easily get ticket this way! See below screenshot, I wanted to travel from BWN to DHN, but there's waiting list of 2. However, when I given previous station in train's route, that is BDC, it's showing available 69. This can save your life one day!

2.    Getting Confirmed Ticket_Trick 2

When ticket between two stations is not available, try break journey ticketing. See screenshot below. Ticket between KALKA and HOWRAH showing not available. But when I search for KALKA to DELHI, ticket available, then DELHI to HOWRAH again available in same train! This way I got confirmed ticket!

3. Current Reservation-

You know about current reservation, right? There are two types of reservations in railways, first is pre-chart reservation, that is reserving your seat before the reservation chart is prepared (which you see pasted beside each reserved coach door). Second type of reservation is post-chart reservation, also called ‘current reservation’. Most popular railway stations have a reservation counter named- ‘current reservation’. From where you can reserve your seats before 1hr of actual departure of train.

Now this facility has come online too! For some stations and for selected trains, you can book ‘current reservation’ tickets online. Just look for curr_avl writing while making online reservations via IRCTC. It's handy for booking tickets for next day journey! See screenshot below.

4. Multi-Voltage Charger-
Many long-distance trains have plug points to charge your mobile, laptop etc. But all chargers/adapters will not work! The output voltage is 110v AC (normal household voltage is 220V AC), so carry a charger/adapter which supports wide voltage, my mobile charger supports AC range 110v-350v.

5. How to Find Your Seat Easily?
Outside of every coach, near the door there's a number pair, which tells you how many seats are there in the coach and in what order. Look at below picture, the arrow mark indicates the sequence of the seat. For example- if it says 1-73>, it means there are 73 seats, and if you enter through this door, you’ll get seats starting from number 1. Similarly, 73-1> means if you enter through this door, you’ll get seats starting from number 73. Look at the picture below.

6. Know Anything About Any Train and Any Station Online-

You can search trains and can know everything about the train you are about to travel in using the website www.indiarailinfo.com .See screenshot below, click on it to see larger picture.

To know it’s complete features, watch my YouTube video. https://youtu.be/oKTThl_fd8g

7. User Smart-Cards-
Use Smart Card of your zone’s railway and metro. They have many benefits, first, you don’t have to stand in the queue every day to get tickets. Second, they give up to 10% extra balance per recharge, like 110 balance in 100 recharge! You can also use CoTVM (cash operated ticket vending machines), they accept both cash and cards for ticket dispensing. You can recharge your smart cards from ATVMs also, no need to stand in the queue again!

8. National Train Enquiry System (NTES)-
Just download the National Train Enquiry System (NTES) app and there you can track a train LIVE, check delayed or cancelled trains, live status of any platform, trains between stations, rescheduled and diverted trains; everything with last to the minutes updates. You can use the web version of the service here- https://enquiry.indianrail.gov.in/

9. Use Unreserved Ticketing System (UTS) App-
It’s an revolutionary app! It lets you buy unreserved ticket from nearby station without physically going to railway ticket counter. You can even get platform ticket in the app! It can save your money & time.

One day I was travelling from Asansol to Howrah in evening's train, with expected time at howrah 21:20. But due to severe rain, train was running 1hr late. Getting a local bus from Howrah at that time was risky. So I decided to enter Kolkata by Sealdah route by getting down to Bandel. But I had ticket for Howrah route only! I immediately booked unreserved ticket in UTS app for Bandel to Sealdah for local train!

10. Prediction of Getting Confirmed Ticket!

 Use 'TrainMan' app, to know your chances of getting confirmed ticket on a particular train, on a particular date! Below screenshot shows % chances of getting confirmed ticket in KALKA MAIL for next 7 days!

11. Use Official IRCTC Rail Connect App-

If you're always on the move, then IRCTC's RailConnect app needs no introduction to you, you can book train tickets, book flights at discount rates, book your meal in train all in one app.

12. Consider Railway Retiring Rooms, Save Money!
If you are travelling on a budget, you can consider Indian Railways retiring rooms, available at most big stations and tourist destinations. You can get a Double-Bed Non-AC Room at just 250/- and Double-Bed AC Room at just 400/- per day! Trust me, they're best value for money. You just need to have a valid ticket to avail the service. You can now book them online also from IRCTC tourism website.

13. Carry Medical Kit With You-
I always carry this Small Medical Emergency Kit in my bag. It contains- Sterilized Gauze, Cotton Swabs, Band-Aids, Amrutanjan Balm (headache, cold, and muscle pain), Borolin (antiseptic moisturizer cream), Safety pin and new blade. With medicines like- Paracetamol (for Fever/Headache/Toothache, minor pain), O2 (for dysentery/loose motion), Cheston Cold (for small cold), Gelusil Tab (antacid), Pepfiz (antacid and antiflatulant), Domstol (anti-vomiting & nausea), Stop AlerG 10mg (for anti-allergies). It can save your life!

 14. Carry Aadhaar Card With You-

Carry your Aadhar Card instead of Driving License/PAN/Voter card. And keep a scan copy in your mail/Dropbox/Google Drive. If you lost your wallet, you can simply lodge an FIR and print a color copy of your Aadhar Card, laminate it in card size, and it’s equally valid as your original Aadhar Card.

Which is not in case with Voter/PAN/Driving License. If those cards are lost, you’ve to bear lots of pain getting duplicate copy. Specially if you work outside your home town.

15. Carry Your MediClaim Card With You-

Always carry your health insurance policy card in your wallet with your Blood Group and Emergency Contact Numbers written on it. If you have some medical complications or medical restrictions, also mention that. It’s extremely important because if you ever get senseless and needed to be admitted to a hospital and needed surgery or blood transfer, that can save precious time detecting your blood group. Also, your family can be informed on the emergency contact numbers.

16.  Luggage Safety-
It's very important to carry lock & chain if you've extra luggage with you. Whether you keep it beneath your seat, or place it in overhead rack, don't forget to lock it with your seat/lluggage rack with chain. Also carry a small padlock and lock main compartment of your rucksack.

17. Carry IRCTC Menu Card With You and Never Pay Extra!
Do you know in Railways, every food item has fixed price? We generally don't ask for menu card while ordering food in train, but we should. Watch this video-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUPo9L_vwcs

Carry IRCTC Menu Rate List PDF file with you and never ever pay extra for your meal from next time. Download from given link www.swr.indianrailways.gov.in/uploads/files/1406784522498-MenuMeals.pdf

 18. Odd-Even Formula!

It’s simple! Up trains have odd train number, and come to odd numbered platform; down trains have even train number and come to even numbered platform.

For example- The ‘Up’ Rajdhani Express (heading towards Delhi) has train number 12305 and comes to platform 9 at Howrah. Similarly, Delhi-Howrah “Down” Rajdhani Express has train number 12306 and comes to platform 14 at Delhi. However, the platform rule can have exceptions depending on the congestion on station and platform.

 19. Up-Down Rule-
In previous paragraph, I mentioned ‘Up’ and 'Down' Rajdhani Express. But do you know what they exactly mean? Well, they refer to altitude difference of Starting and Ending stations.

For example, the altitude of New Delhi station is 216m, whereas altitude of Howrah station is 10m, from sea level. So, New Delhi is situated at upper altitude, so when a train is going to New Delhi from Howrah, the train will be ‘Up’ train, and train number will be ‘Odd Number’. Simple!

There is another logic, trains coming to headquarters, base station, are called ‘down’ trains.

 20. Carry a Backup Phone-
Even you've a fancy iPhone or shiny Mi-Mix 2 with you as your main device, if you're on a long distance journey, it's advised to have a backup phone with BSNL/AirTel sim card in it, as they have PAN India network coverage.

 21. Wake-Up Alarm Service!
 If you’ve ever missed your station because you'd fall asleep, then this service is for you! Just SMS ALERT <PNR NUMBER> to 139. Example-  ALERT 1234567890 and send it to 139. You’ll get a wakeup call from Indian Railways 30 minutes before your scheduled arrival at your station on your registered mobile number.

This service is not full-proof for many reasons, you may not have signal in your phone at that time, your train can be late. Moreover, this service is chargeable at 3/- per SMS. Better, what I personally do is, to put an alarm on my mobile 20 minutes before expected arrival (checked by NTES) at my destination station.

So these were my 21 IRCTC Indian Railways Tips that I learned during my travels by trains in India. Hope to learn some more in future! Let me know how you like my article,comment below if you know some more tricks. Share it with everyone you know to make their life easier, sharing is caring!