A great site. Review on Irctc

This is one of the most incredibly useful sites I come across. This website by indian railways can be used for booking tickets online. One needs to be a registered

member of the site to to able to book tickets. Basically one needs to enter the FROM and TO stations and the date to retrieve the list of trains. For each of the trains

the availability, fare, route can be checked. Basically two types of tickets can be booked i-tickets and e-tickets. I-tickets need to be booked 2 calender days

ahead of travel. E-tickets can be booked upto 4-6 hours before journey. One can take a printout of an e-ticket and travel. I-tickets are actual printed tickets

delivered at your address. Additional charges are levied for mailing the ticktes( 40 Rs for sleeper class,Rs 60 for AC 3 tier and above).

I have booked i-tickets on several occasions. The tickets are delivered within a day or two.However they are not without drawbacks.

1) If for some reason, the ticket cannot be booked( eg non- availability of preferred berth etc) the amount would still be taken from th credit card. Although refund

takes place quickly( 2 days), before deducting the amount, they could ensure availability

2) Not possible to cancel tickets online. If the ticket is being cancelled before the date of journey, it can be done at any computerised reservation counter with the

usual cancellation charges. However if the date of journey is already gone by, then one needs to follow a lengthy procedure.