Last updated on February 27, 2017
The Indian Railways is the most sought after by the common Indian owing to the lowest fair in the world and in the modern times the tickets can be easily booked by the automated railway ticketing system that is available online.
IRCTC is an official website for railway ticket booking. Reservation is allowed 90 days ahead of the travelling date. Passengers can get their reservation done by making use of their credit or debit cards or directly by the bank transfer. There are different methods of Railway Reservation Seat Availability IRCTC and these are-
Reservation Against Cancellation or RAC Tickets
RAC is perhaps a very exclusive system of railway ticket booking that is pursued by the Indian Railways for the benefit of the passengers. It is different from the wait listed ones in which the passenger cannot board the train, if the ticket is not confirmed. The finest part of this is that despite having RAC ticket, the passenger can avail the facility of the reserved accommodation. According to this facility, all coaches are allotted approximately 15 tickets that are kept on hold only for the RAC quota passengers. This scheme of reserving tickets promises a seat but only for sitting which means that the berth will have to be shared by two people. Just in case there are cancellations, RAC tickets are the first ones that are confirmed.
Waitlist (WL) Tickets
When the RAC quota is all reserved, the traveler is then given a wait listed tickets. In this particular status, the passenger has to patiently wait for the cancellation of other tickets after which first the RAC tickets are confirmed and then the Waitlisted ones. As and when, the cancellations take place, the status of the wait-listed tickets also improve, first to RAC status and finally to the confirmed ticket. Passengers who have wait listed tickets cannot board the train. However, one can sit on the unreserved coach of the train.
Tatkal Scheme
Another Railway Reservation Seat Availability IRCTC is the Tatkal tickets for the travelers. This is a wonderful ticketing system for the passengers who are in some sort of emergency and decide to travel at the last minute but their reason is very genuine. Under the Tatkal scheme, passengers can book tickets for their decided destination just two days prior to the date of travel. Under this scheme an extra amount has to be paid which varies according to the class and distance you have to cover to reach your destination. The Tatkal ticketing is available two days ahead prior to the date of departure. Nevertheless, this facility of ticket booking does not allow any kind of name change, refund and cancellation.
Though it is feasible to get the Tatkal Reservation online but it is wise to get it booked from the railway counter or through a travel portal as the Indian Railways website is very slow at the peak hours of rush and you might miss out getting the ticket at all.
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