New IRCTC next-generation e-ticketing website: This year the official website of the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), which is the e-ticketing and catering arm of Indian Railways underwent a major revamp. The website which is used to book lakhs of train tickets daily, has been provided with many new interesting features. Not only has booking a train ticket become easier but also passengers can enjoy many new additional features such as checking the availability of train tickets, wait-list prediction, live streaming of IRCTC base kitchens etc. Additionally, with easier navigation you can link your IRCTC account to your Aadhaar number as well. Here are 5 cool facts that every passenger of Indian Railways should know:
1) With the recent upgradation of the IRCTC website, it has become very easy to navigate and search for trains. Now, passengers can check the availability of trains and seats along with the ticket fare. The most interesting part is that for this, the passenger is no longer required to login. Also, the new IRCTC website sports a user-friendly layout for modification of journey details.
2) In the newly upgraded IRCTC website, an interesting feature has been introduced which allows passengers to see the probability of a waitlisted ticket getting confirmed during online ticket booking. Not only that, the waitlisted feature then makes it easy for passengers to make an informed decision to opt for VIKALP scheme for alternate trains.
3) Interestingly, IRCTC has also extended the service charge waiver for online booked tickets by nine more months. Earlier the exemption from payment of service charge was till August 31, 2018, but now it has been extended up to March 31, 2019. The new IRCTC website has also tied up with many e-commerce payment systems like Paytm, MobiKwik and others for cashbacks offers and discounts for online ticket booking.
4) Now, booking more than six railway tickets on IRCTC website has also become easy. By linking the IRCTC login ID with Aadhaar number, passengers can now book more than six railway tickets together. By linking Aadhaar, a passenger can now book up to 12 train tickets in a month. The linking process is easy – login and click on the Aadhaar/KYC under the My profile menu.
5) To improve hygiene standards and to offer better quality food to passengers, IRCTC has introduced live streaming of IRCTC base kitchens. Passengers who wish to keep an eye on the food being prepared for them, they can watch the live screening of IRCTC base kitchens on the website. Before ordering food, passengers can also check the menu along with the prices in the newly launched Menu for Rails feature on the website.