Indian Railways have started a unique and useful service via which you can book indian railways ticket through SMS. This will help to avoid long queues on ticket and booking counter.
This service can be availed WITHOUT internet connection. You just need to use SMS service on your mobile phone.
Below are the steps to book Indian Railways ticket through SMS.
First: Register your mobile number with your bank. The bank will provide a mobile money Identifier (MMId) and one-time password (OTP) for authorization of payment.
Second: After getting the MMid and OTP, now you can book your ticket. For booking, type an SMS with all your travel details like train number, date of journey, boarding station and destination and Class of travel, besides name, age and gender of the passenger. The SMS should be sent to 139 or 5676714.
SMS Format:
BOOK <space> Train No. <space> From Station <space> To Station <space> Travel Date (DDMM) <space> Class <space> Passenger 1 - Name <space> Age <space> Gender <space> Passenger 2 - Name <space> Age <space> Gender <space> ICICI
(upto 6 passengers)
EXAMPLE:
If you want to book tickets of Train No. 22105 from Kalyan (KYN) to Pune (PUNE) in Second Sitting (2S) for journey date 30th August with Amit (age - 31) and Neeru (age - 26) as passengers, send the following SMS to 139: BOOK 22105 KYN PUNE 3008 2S AMIT 31 M NEERU 26 F ICICI.
You will receive a message with the following details:
- Transaction ID
- Ticket Amount
- IRCTC Service Charge
- Total Amount
- Seat Availability
EXAMPLE
Trans Id : 683896995 Ticket Amount : 170.0 IRCTC SC : 11.24 Total Amount : 181.24 Seat : AVAILABLE- 0632.
| ClassFirst class Air-Conditioned (AC) (Code:1A) AC 2-tier sleeper (Code:2A) First class (Code:FC) AC 3 Tier (Code:3A) 3 E - AC 3 Tier Economy AC chair Car (Code:CC) Sleeper Class (Code:SL) Second Sitting (Code:2S) |
| Train NumberClick here to get your Train Number. |
| Station CodeClick here to get the Station Code. |
| PNR EnquiryClick here for PNR Enquiry. |
Third: On receiving the SMS, the IRCTC will send a transaction ID. The passenger has to reply to the SMS with PAY followed by the transaction ID and the bank password (OTP).
Fourth: This confirms booking and the ticket amount will be deducted from your bank account.
Fifth: On successful booking of ticket, a message will be sent to the user by IRCTC which will be sufficient as the valid travel document along with photo ID card in original.
Please check the IRCTC link for further queries like seat availability, Schedule, time table, PNR status
NOTE:
First: The SMS scheme will not be available during 8 am-12 pm for booking ARP/tatkal/general tickets.
Second: There will be no need for internet at any stage - booking, payment, cancellation etc.