An app to tell if you can get a confirmed train ticket or not!

Wary of your waitlisted IRCTC ticket? You’re among 30-40% of the 10 lakh people who book tickets on the IRCTC website daily. Yet, a whopping 57% of the seats go vacant. Few years ago two ex-IBM engineers felt this had to change.

“We researched the railways data for trends and found a pattern. There was a possibility we could predict availability”, Dinesh Kumar Kotha, Co-founder, Confirmtkt says.

The duo created an algorithm that considers historical data on key factors like month, holidays, week/weekend, train, type of journey to predict the possibility of you landing a confirmed ticket on the train of your choice. Their new feature ‘Alternates’ rolled out in first half of August claims to increase the chances many-folds.

Mind, users still need to visit IRCTC‘s official website or app to complete the booking. However, judging that over 95% Indian rail travelers are middle-class and rail prices are often a third of bus travel and a fraction of airfare, there is no lack of demand for such hacks in the travel industry.

“Cleartrip wanted to redirect to booking to their website. Yatra wants to use our technology. However, we want to focus on research and development initially. Monetization can wait. “, Kotha says.

The prediction accuracy was previously 75%. It has jumped to more than 95% as of now.

“We are also working on predicting multi-train/break journeys. Alternative modes of transport can also be added. There are several options”, Kotha says.

When asked if he has a time-frame in mind to monetize, Kotha agrees. “We’re experimenting on the best time to monetize. Our target is a million users. Currently we have around 2.7 lakh”, he says.

Confirmtkt has a website, Android and Windows apps. An iPhone app is coming soon.

http://www.businessinsider.in/An-appto-tell-if-you-can-get-a-confirmed-train-ticket-or-not/articleshow/49046521.cms

 

Railways launch e-booking service for wheelchairs

Passengers can now book wheelchairs online as Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) has launched the service for free at New Delhi station.

The wheelchair facility is for the benefit of old, sick and differently-abled people, who can pre-book wheelchairs while booking their tickets online, IRCTC Chairman and Managing Director AK Manocha said.

“We have started the service on a pilot basis at the New Delhi station which can be replicated at other stations also,” he added.

At present, there are nine wheelchairs available for booking as part of e-wheelchair service. Such a wheelchair can be hired for a maximum time of one hour. Those availing the facility need to deposit their I-cards such as voter ID card, Aadhaar card or PAN among others with a deposit fee of Rs 500, which will be returned after the wheelchair is given back.

The facility will also be dispensed from IRCTC’s Tourism Facilitation Centre located at platform no.16 of New Delhi station.

There is no age limit for booking of wheelchairs. Any passenger having confirmed reservation ticket can book the wheelchair on IRCTC website.

 

15% of online rail tickets booked from Bihar

The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) created a record on April 1 by booking about 13 lakh e-tickets on its site, http://www.irctc.co.in. Normally, 5 to 6 lakh tickets are booked online from the IRCTC site every day. Bihar has become a major state accounting for about 15% e-tickets being booked daily.

According to IRCTC manager Sandip Dutta, Patna and Darbhanga are the leading places in Bihar for booking e-tickets these days. Interestingly, Bihar and UP are the major states from where online tickets are being booked from rural areas yielding good revenue to the railways, he said, adding the maximum number of e-ticket service agents in rural areas are also in these two states.

Dutta said out of 13 lakh e-tickets booked on April 1, about 15% were from Bihar alone. About 1.5 lakh people in Bihar book e-tickets every day. Buoyed by the increase in the online ticket booking system, the IRCTC has planned measures to providing better services to its customers duly registered with its site www. irctc.co.in, he said.

Railways online ticket reservation through the IRCTC site has registered a big increase compared to about 40,000 bookings per day in 2008, sources said. According to sources, the IRCTC has been making all possible efforts to expand its network to other private sectors.

Confirming the rush for the IRCTC site for ticket booking either online or through SMS system, the IRCTC senior official said, “The IRCTC has managed to maintain its lead position in the domestic travel ticket bookings. But it is keen to make its portal a ‘one-stop shop’ for planning tours and other services,” he said. According to sources, the IRCTC, a Railways’ wing, has already become an agent of International Air Transport Association (IATA). The IRCTC has tied up with Air India and Jet Airways to provide services to passengers, sources said.

The IRCTC ticket business constitutes about 40% of its total revenue. It is also planning to reduce the payment transaction time which is about 1.5 to 2.5 minutes per ticket booking online.

IRCTC

 

After Domino’s and KFC, what could be next on Indian Railways’ menu?

If eating a Domino’s pizza wasn’t your cup of tea while that sojourn on the Indian Railways then you are in for a treat! The Indian Railways has now gone a step further in its junk-food category and will now offer KFC’s fried chicken on board.

In February this year, IRCTC tied up with Domino’s Pizza to deliver pizza at your berth during your train journeys.

This is how the service works:

At pre-mentioned 12 stations across India, passengers have an opportunity to book pizzas online which would then be delivered on their seats once the train makes a halt at the station. One could book their pizza through SMS or directly through calls.

People who did not like the food that the Indian Railways offered on its network were happy with the option. It had just been just five months since the announcement and the Railways added KFC to its menu.

Passengers can directly book KFC meals while booking their ticket through IRCTC website.

However, this facility is for trains that do not have pantry services.

Clearly, IRCTC is trying all ways possible to make journey for its passengers all the more interesting and enjoyable.

IRCTC has tied up with these two major food brands in market under its newly launched e-catering services.

Tying up with two major brands already, IRCTC has raised the expectations of the passengers. Now we have to wait and see what comes next.

DNA Indian

 

IRCTC adds two new servers to ease tatkal bookings

Railways food catering and tourism promotion firm, the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), on Friday said that it has upgraded its website by introducing two high capacity servers that have doubled peak time efficiency.

According to the IRCTC, its portal installed two Linux-enabled servers on June 1, 2015 raising the booking capacity to over 14,000 tickets per minute from the existing 7,200.

IRCTC Chairman and Managing Director A.K. Manocha said the capacity augmentation has been done as an “immediate step” to cater to the summer time demand for tatkal tickets and a forenoon flurry in their online reservations.

“The measure is vital, considering that 54 percent train tickets in the country are booked through IRCTC website,” Manocha cited.

On an average the daily sale of train tickets through the portal, which is the world’s second busiest with three crore registered users, is around 5.5 to 6 lakh.

The 16-year-old ‘mini Ratna’ public sector undertaking of the Indian Railways had introduced e-ticketing in 2002 through its digital platform.

The website was first upgraded in end-April last year, facilitating 1,50,000 concurrent connections or users at any given time and the ability to entertain 1,000 enquiries per second.

“Even that was later found insufficient, given the summer time rush for tatkal tickets – especially in premium trains plying between the most sought after destinations,” pointed out Manocha.

With the addition of the two new servers, IRCTC now has 17 servers.

The tatkal reservations on all Indian Railways trains total roughly around 400,000 tickets. Of these, 50,000 tickets are slotted ‘critical’, given their high demand owing to various reasons during a given season.

Yahoo News

 

Commuters spared premium fare in first tatkal special train

In what can be termed as small mercy for passengers, the railways has decided to not bring in the premium tatkal concept for the first ever Tatkal Special train — a train in which all tickets will be under the tatkal quota — to be run on Indian Railways. The Tatkal Specials will run between Kurla LTT and Madgaon on Central and Konkan Railways. The reservation for the trains open on May 8 for the first trip on Saturday.

According to a CR statement, trains 01005 (between Kurla LTT and Madgaon) and 01006 (between Madgaon and Kurla LTT) will run on May 9 and May 16 while trains 01045 (Kurla LTT to Madgaon) and 01046 (Madgaon and Kurla LTT) will run on May 10 and May 17.

These trains will halt at Thane, Panvel, Roha, Mangaon, Khed, Chiplun, Ratnagiri, Vaibhavwadi Road, Kankavali, Kudal, Sawantwadi Road, Thivim and Karmali, according to a CR statement. The railways, in order to make the trains more appealing, have ensured that their tickets can be booked on the net as well as at the booking windows. The composition — one AC-2 tier, two AC-3 tier, 7 Sleeper Class, 6 General Second Class and 2 General Second Class cum guard’s brake vans — also caters to all segments of the travelling crowd.

Railways are betting big on this new segment and the success of Tatkal Specials will see more such trains in the near future, said officials. “For the passenger, while he pays extra tatkal rates, the good part is that there is no dynamic pricing on the tickets. Unfortunately, dynamic pricing of tickets in some cases is making the tickets beyond reach of the common man, especially if he is travelling with his family,” said a senior railway official.
As first reported by dna, the premium tatkal concept is creating problems for passengers booking on the net with the ticket prices touching the upper limit of three times the fare within seconds.

In its April 18 edition, dna had highlighted the plight of Thane-resident Shyam Nair who booked two premium tatkal tickets on the 16345 Kurla-Thiruvananthapuram Netravati Express and got a bill of Rs 11,904 despite the IRCTC website showing the base fare of each ticket as Rs2,145.

The IRCTC’s official explanation was that in premium tatkal, since each class on a train will have just around 10-15 premium tatkal tickets that can be booked from computers nationwide, the booking is so quick that the price changes between inquiry time and booking time. In a matter of much less than a minute, a premium tatkal ticket will reach the upper limit (three times base fare), according to IRCTC officials.

DNA Indian

 

Indian Railways hits record sales due to new 120 day booking rule

The 120 day advance reservation period that came into effect on April 1 might be a headache for ordinary passengers who don’t plan their holidays so much in advance but for the railways it has been an absolute delight. The first day of the rule on Wednesday saw the railways laughing all the way to the bank.

The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) created a new national record with 13 lakh tickets sold on its website on Wednesday against the daily average of 5 lakh tickets. IRCTC website on any given day accounts for 53 percent of all long distance tickets booked, the rest coming from windows at Passenger Reservation Centres at railway stations.

Similar was the story at Western Railway stations between Churchgate to Surat. Against a sale of Rs 1.47 crores on March31, the sales on Wednesday was Rs 4.53 crores. The biggest jump was at Churchgate Passenger Reservation Centre where ticket sales for Wednesday was a whopping Rs 70 lakhs against Rs 13.5 lakhs on Tuesday. Mumbai Central sold tickets worth Rs 65 lakhs against Rs 17.3 lakhs on Tuesday. Andheri’s ticket sales swelled from Rs 11.6 lakhs on Tuesday to Rs 46 lakhs on Wednesday.

“It is a very clever idea to raise the advance booking period for tickets to 120 as railways gets to keep the money for double the period against 60 days earlier. But it might not be the best thing for commuters” said Bhandup resident Manish Chaturvedi.

DNA Indian

 

Railways limits one ticket per login in rush hour

Now only one train ticket can be booked online with one login after which the booking session will expire during the peak hours.

The restriction, which will be applicable while booking of e-ticket between 0800 hours and 1200 hours, has been imposed to prevent touts from cornering tickets through single-user logging facility.

However, this restriction will not be applicable while booking onward journey/return journey e-tickets. The restriction will not be applied on defence booking under warrant.

“There will be a restriction of only one booking in one user login session in e-ticketing and forced logging out of the user before another booking for all users including IRCTC agents,” said a statement issued by railways.

TOI

 

IRCTC launches concierge services at New Delhi railway station

In order to facilitate last mile connectivity to passengers and tourists, the IRCTC has launched concierge services at New Delhi railway station.

“The service aims to facilitate train passengers at the station in hiring a porter, getting information regarding running status of the trains, and arranging a taxi for dropping the passenger to his residence or hotel”, a senior Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) official said.

“Concierge service is operational on a pilot basis at New Delhi railway station and the response is so far very encouraging”, the official said, adding, IRCTC plans to launch the services at other major stations including tourist destinations on railways network.

This would go a long way in enhancing the level of comfort and security for the rail users.

To begin with, dropping service to the passengers from New Delhi station will be provided, the official said. IRCTC is monitoring the movement of the trains on real time basis to ensure best services to the passengers.

“We have engaged qualified and experienced manpower and service providers, well-acquainted with local conditions and as per the arrangement, an escort meets the passengers at station on arrival to guide him through the services”, he said.The services can be booked online on the IRCTC website.

 

IRCTC may soon offer station-to-home drop facility in premium trains

Soon, railway passengers in Lucknow can hire someone to receive them at the station, takes care of the luggage and have them dropped at the desired destination in a cab through ‘concierge service’–a station-to-home drop facility offered on the Railway’s official ticketing website.

After successful experiment in New Delhi in January this year, the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) will launch its friendly ‘concierge service’ for passengers travelling in premium trains in the state capital this week. Passengers can choose this facility along with tickets booked online.

“Apart from the convenience to the passengers, the facility would also boost tourism,” said an IRCTC official at the Lucknow regional centre.

To begin with, the services would be available for the passengers of premium trains including Shatabadi Express, Pushpak Express, Lucknow Mail and Delhi-bound Rajdhani Express.“For now we have limited the services to four trains and it would be expanded to more trains depending on the response,” he said. The ‘concierge service’ comes with a cab service, a porter and an escort to assist the train passenger.

“A person would receive the passenger who has availed of the facility, take care of the luggage, book a cab and drop the passenger at his/her desired destination under the facility,” said the official adding this would also help keeping a tab on touts. However, for each of these services, passengers have to pay premium 36 hours in advance only on the IRCTC website.

While the charges for the porter will be Rs 100 (for 40kg luggage) and Rs 200 (for 80kg), the charges of cab have been divided into different zones in the state capital.

NEWS18