IRCTC – a Traveler’s Guide to Traveling
Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation, which is commonly known as IRCTC, is the subsidiary enterprise of Indian Railways. It looks after the tourism, catering as well as online booking and is under the supervision of the Ministry of Railways. After the New Railway Catering Policy introduced in 2010, catering service in trains was transferred from IRCTC to Indian Railways. Now it caters to only a few trains. In many stations there are food plazas and fast food centers run by IRCTC. It also operates non-railway catering in Indian ministries and institutes.
IRCTC was the first establishment to introduce online booking for the railway in India. You have the choice ohttp://www.articlefield.com/wp-admin/post-new.phpf selecting the trains available, checking the seat availability, checking the prices and getting the e-ticket by email. You can download this and get a printout. Senior citizens have a concession of 40 to 50 percent on the fares. Children below 5 years of age do not require a ticket and no seat is allotted to them. Children of the age group 5 to 11 years need a half-ticket. They will be allotted a seat or berth. Nowadays, you can carry a ticket in electronic mode in your mobile, i-pad or laptop. This way it is possible to save a lot of paper.
The PNR status can also be checked on the website. If you have a ticket on RAC or waiting list, you can keep a track of whether you have been allotted a seat or not. If you are allotted a seat, you can get the details of your coach and berth number. The Tatkal facility introduced allows one to book a ticket 24 hours before the journey. While booking on Tatkal, you have to submit your ID proof and there is a restriction for booking tickets for a maximum of four persons.
Recently, IRCTC has launched a programme called “Shubh Yatra” for frequent travelers. In this programme, they get a discount on tickets booked for a whole year by paying an annual fee. Moreover, there are also season tickets that are available through the website. Other than booking tickets, IRCTC offers scores of other services like hotel booking, airlines booking and car facilities for transport or sightseeing for the convenience of the travelers.
Tourism promotion is one of the main features of IRCTC. There are special tour packages to different tourist spots for foreign tourists. Many tourist trains like Rajdhani Express, Palace on Wheels, Bharat Darshan, and Deccan Odyssey are meant for this purpose. Special offers and packages with discounts are also provided for families moving out to visit different places during vacations. It includes both budget and deluxe packages. In case of travel where a night stay is required, the railway offers special arrangements to travelers. Their stay is made comfortable in all respects. IRCTC also provides adventure tour packages and pilgrim tours too. Hence, it looks after all the aspects of the traveling.
Book your Himalayan or north- eastern holidays with the Irctc and save money on the travel tickets and hotels to enjoy your holiday. Make sure you have the train number before you start making your railway reservation online as every train in India is designated with a unique number to identify it.
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