The advance of technology in the IT sector has cats its spell on the Indian Railway system as well. A living proof to this statement becomes obvious from the fact that online reservations have started happening and people have become more technology savvy. For people who know how to operate the computers and access the Internet, booking tickets online is like a child’s play.
The advantage of this kind of a service is that one can book tickets sitting at home, without going through the hassles of traffic and long queues. Such a service proves time effective and is also foolproof.
Tickets can be booked at IRCT’s online reservation website – www.irctc.co.in. Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation is marketing division’s subsidiary. The system of online reservation was launched in August 2002 in collaboration with the Centre for Railway Information Systems. Thus gone were the days of long restless queues at the reservation counters.
Even though online reservation system has taken over manual booking, there is no denying the fact that queues still persist at the reservation counters, nevertheless the plight of the awaiting passengers is much better then what it used to be earlier. Moreover, the sulky staffs of Indian Railways have also changed their attitudes by shedding off their white collars and putting on humble clothes of service.
These online reservations can be made by using credit card or by giving in the account numbers of the banks that are listed on the webpage. Further there are two types of tickets I-Tickets and E-Tickets. E-tickets are online reserved tickets paid via debit or credit card and copy of tickets printed out to be furnished; whereas I-Tickets are to be booked few days prior to journey and should be delivered at the passengers’ doorstep, at applicable charges. There is thus no denying the fact that Online Reservation has made life much simpler for passengers.