From 1 July 2013 Book Indian Railways Ticket by SMS/USSD

Soon  Train passengers will be able to use their mobile phones to book tickets using SMS that is  text-messaging-based facility or a menu-based dialling service(USSD) from July 1. This can be used with even simple feature phones to smartphones. There is no need for an internet connection and customers will not have to pay any data charges.

The IRCTC said that it has provided a simple user-guided menu to book tickets, search stations and check the availability of berths.”A dedicated telephone number will soon be provided to carry out the transactions,”
For the SMS-based ticket service, customers need to register with their banks to generate Mobile Money Identifier (MMID), a seven-digit random number. For the menu-based USSD system, there is no need to register with the bank and payment can be authorized through a mobile wallet.

Six berths or seats can be booked in a single transaction through the new systems.SMS charge for booking will be Rs 3. Apart from this there will be gateway charge of Rs 5 upto ticket of Rs 5000 and for ticket above Rs 5000 there will be charge for Rs 10

Procedure for Booking

1. SMS-based booking

* Registered IRCTC users can use this service. You also need to register your mobile number with IRCTC as well as your bank, which provides Mobile Money Identifier (MMID) and one-time password (OTP)

* Send SMS to designated number in following format: BOOK

* You receive a transaction ID

* Make payment with an SMS to designated number in the following format

PAY

2) USSD (menu-based dialling)

* Dial designated number, select ‘book tickets’ option, select ‘reservation’ (user is prompted to enter his IRCTC user ID once only), enter details (station, train no., date, etc)

* Enter mPIN for authorizing payment through mobile wallet

* Booking confirmation SMS is sent by IRCTC

Indian Railways Increase Passenger fare w.e.f 22/01/2013

The Ministry of Railways has revised the  Passenger Fares w.e.f. 22.01.2013. Details of the fare revision are as under:-

S.N.	Class	Increase in Fare per Passenger Kilo Meter (PKM)	Minimum distance for charge
i	Second Class Ordinary (Suburban)	02 paise	No change (existing – 10 Kms)
ii	Second Class Ordinary (Non-Suburban)	03 paise	No change (existing – 10 Kms)
iii	Second Class	04 paise	50 kms
iv	Sleeper Class	06 paise	No change (existing – 200 Kms)
v	AC Chair Car	10 paise	150 kms
vi	AC 3-Tier	10 paise	300 kms
vii	First Class	03 paise	No change (existing – 100 Kms)
viii	AC 2 – Tier	06 paise	No change (existing – 300 Kms)
ix	AC First Class	10 paise	No change (existing – 300 Kms)

1. Minimum Fare: The Minimum fare chargeable will be Rs. 5.

2. Development Charge: On the revised basic fares which shall become effective from 22.01.2013, development charge shall not be leviable.

In the case of tickets already issued at pre-revised rates, The difference of revised fares and other charges on or after 22.01.2013 will be recovered either by TTEs on the trains or by the Booking/Reservation Offices before the commencement of journey by passengers. 

3. Fares of Rajdhani, Shatabdi, Garib Rath, Jan Shatabdi, Duronto, Rajya Rani and Yuva Expresses will similarly be revised .

THE Basic Fare, will be rounded off to the next higher multiple of five rupees, except that in cases where either ‘1’ or ‘6’ comes up as the last digit (i.e. in unit’s place) it will be rounded off to the immediately lower multiple of Rs. 5, i.e. Rs. 11.00, Rs. 21.00, Rs. 31.00 etc. would respectively become Rs. 10.00, Rs. 20.00, Rs. 30.00 etc. and Rs. 6.00, Rs. 16.00, Rs. 26.00 etc. would respectively become Rs. 5.00, Rs. 15.00 and Rs. 25.00 etc. and Fare values ending in Rs. 2, Rs. 3 or Rs. 4 would be getting rounded off to Rs. 5 and those ending in Rs. 7, Rs. 8, or Rs. 9 to Rs. 10 and so on and so forth.