So is IRCTC now forcibly selling food with tickets? This is how the No Food option was hidden, passengers flocked to their senses in searching!

 The "No-Food" option on the IRCTC website and app has now been shifted to the bottom of the page. Many passengers claimed that they were forced to pay for the food. Railways have clarified that passengers have complete freedom and the interface has been changed so that booking is easier.

IRCTC New Update: If you also use the IRCTC website or mobile app to book tickets online, then this news is important for you . In recent times, many passengers have complained on social media that they are no longer getting the option of 'No-Food' while booking tickets. People are saying that earlier they could easily choose 'No-Food' while booking tickets, now this option is not visible on the website. So now while booking a train ticket, you have to take train food without wanting, let's know the whole truth?

Many users on social media tagged IRCTC and wrote that they had to pay the food charge forcibly at the time of ticket booking. Some people also shared a screenshot of the ticket, which appeared to be written as Meal included. Passengers said that earlier there were three options of 'Veg Meal', 'Non-Veg Meal' and 'No-Food', but now 'No-Food' has disappeared.

Actually, the no-food option has not been removed from the IRCTC website, but its status has been changed in the new interface (UI Update) of the website and app. Now this option is not given in the place before but in the bottom section of the page. Many people are not able to see it while booking tickets in a hurry, which is creating confusion.

Why did the Railways change the interface?

According to IRCTC officials, the design of the website and mobile app has recently been upgraded. This upgrade includes changes to make the booking page more user-friendly and faster . In the new system, an attempt has been made to show the food options in a clean way so that passengers can decide for themselves whether they want food on the journey or not.

How to choose the no-food option now?

If you don't want to be given food with the ticket, keep these things in mind. When you are booking tickets, go to the "Meal Options" section. Scroll down to "Veg Meal" and "Non-Veg Meal" here. At the bottom of the page, you'll find a new button for "I don't want food/beverages." Click on it so that you don't have to pay the charge for food with the ticket.

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IRCTC New TATKAL Rule from 1 July 2025

Starting July 1, 2025, Aadhaar authentication is mandatory for all Tatkal ticket bookings via IRCTC's website and mobile app. Passengers must link their Aadhaar with their IRCTC user ID and verify it successfully. From July 15, 2025, all Tatkal bookings made at computerised PRS counters and through authorised agents will require OTP authentication sent to the mobile number provided during booking.

  Aadhaar authentication for online Tatkal bookings

Tatkal tickets purchased via IRCTC's official website and mobile app will only be accessible to individuals who have successfully authenticated with Aadhaar as of July 1, 2025. This means that passengers must link their Aadhaar number with their IRCTC user profile and verify it successfully to be able to book Tatkal tickets online. Further, Aadhaar-based OTP authentication will become mandatory for Tatkal bookings made online starting 15th July 2025. 

 System-based OTP Authentication at counters and agents Starting July 15, 2025, all Tatkal tickets booked at computerised Passenger Reservation System (PRS) counters and through authorised railway agents will require an extra layer of verification through OTP (One-Time Password) authentication. 

 Booking time restriction for authorised agents

 To ensure fair access to Tatkal tickets for regular passengers, Indian Railways has imposed a time restriction on authorised ticketing agents during the initial phase of Tatkal bookings. Under the new rule, authorised agents will not be allowed to book Tatkal tickets during the first 30 minutes of the booking window on the day Tatkal bookings open. The rule applies as follows: For AC classes: Agents cannot book tickets between 10:00 AM and 10:30 AM. For non-AC classes: Agents cannot book tickets between 11:00 AM and 11:30 AM.

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Now no longer need to carry baggage to Railways Station : Baggage pick and Drop Service by Indian Railways.

 There is good news for those traveling on the train. Railway passengers no longer need to carry baggage from home to railway station. Railways themselves are going to arrange this. This facility will be the first implemented on  East Central Railway (ECR) Patna across the country, from where this service will start.

Indian Railways is planning to do pick up and home delivery of goods from Passenger's home. After implementation of the scheme, any passenger can book their luggage through the Nodal Agency's app or through the railway website. After this, the stress of transporting and bringing goods from the house to the station will be reduced, you will not have to suffer even the pressure of the coolies. The traveler surrounded by the porters feels very trapped. Indian Railways has taken the initiative to remove this pain of passengers

Railways said that with the new decision, passengers traveling by train will get rid of the worry of transporting goods from home or transporting goods from the station to the house, along with the porters will not be worried about the rate. Now the railway will transport your goods from home to berths and other cities. Danapur Railway Division of East Central Railway has approved this new facility.

How will the luggage booking works- Travelers will have the option of booking on the agency's app and website. The app has to be downloaded to Android Mobile. The size, weight and other information of the bag will have to be given. It will be charged accordingly. The fee will be determined according to the distance and weight from the station. The maximum distance for this will be 50 kilometers and the lowest rate will be 125 rupees.

A distance of 10 km and a side charge of minimum 10 kg bag will be Rs 125. There will also be a prescribed fee of the porter to carry the goods to the berth. If there will be more than one (maximum of five) luggage, then the fee for the first luggage will be Rs 125 and for the rest Rs 50-50. The agency will also facilitate the wrapping and sanitization of luggage. With GPS system, you will be able to track your luggage, along with baggage insurance.

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Railways to start special Train to move migrant worker who are stranded due to lock down

Railways start Shramik Special Trains to move migrant workers, pilgrims, tourists, students and other persons stranded at different places due to lock down.‬

‪These special trains will be run from point to point on the request of both the concerned State Governments

https://pib.gov.in/PressReleseDetail.aspx?PRID=1620027

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Now Connecting Journey Booking available online :Link PNR number of connecting Journey online

 (IRCTC) website and mobile app have introduced a new feature from  where one can link the PNR numbers of two connecting journeys. This is in cases where people have booked tickets between a pair of stations for which direct trains may not be available on that particular date.
This will help passengers to get a refund if they miss their second train because the first train is delayed. This is similar to how international flights operate, which ensure passengers are given a different flight if the connecting flight on the same airline is delayed.

However, telescopic benefit will not be given to the passenger booking interconnected journey. In Indian Railways, as one travels a longer distance, the price of the journey per km decreases, which is known as telescopic fare.

Take the case of a passenger who has booked a ticket from Pune to Dhanbad in two inter-linked journeys - Pune to Howrah and Howrah to Dhanbad. In case the train from Pune is delayed and arrives after the train to Dhanbad has departed, the passenger will be able to avail a full refund for the latter journey.
This facility is now available on the IRCTC app and website. To use this, one has to click on the menu link on the IRCTC website and click on ‘Trains’. A drop-down menu will show ‘Connecting Journey Booking’.
For booking a connecting journey ticket, one has to first book the first journey ticket.
This can be an e-ticket or a paper ticket bought at the contact. While booking the connecting journey ticket, IRCTC will ask for the PNR number of the first journey ticket, which has to be entered.

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Now Indian Railways to display vaccant seat online after charting .

In order to implement transprency in seat reservation after charting ,Indian Railways has started displaying reserved charts online to allow its passengers to see the status of seats while booking a particular train.

The user-friendly interface will give graphical representation of the train coaches and berth-wise accommodation status on <http://www.irctc.co.in> website. There is option for chart /Vaccany . On click of this button ,it will ask for train number of name . After entering it will display the seat status.
reservation charts will now be available for public viewing on the internet and will facilitate the prospective passengers in getting the information of the vacant berths available in the train after the preparation of the chart.

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Windows XP ,Windows server 2003 user will not able to access IRCTC portal

IRCTC website is now migrated to TLS 1.2 which will not be supported by Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 operating system. Hence user who is having these operating system will not be able to access IRCTC website anymore!

TLS 1.2 is not be supported by Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 operating system.Such Users may upgrade their operating systems higher than Windows XP/Server 2003 in order to use IRCTC portal.

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Missed you connecting Train ,Don't worry you can travel in another train without extra payment.

If the train you are traveling is late for some reason and you missed the onward train connection because of this,you can approach the Station Manager on duty and ask him to issue a late arrival certificate. With this certificate you can seek alternative in other trains going towards your destination subject to seat availability .You need not to pay any extra money. Suppose you have booked Ticket from A to B Station in X train .Another Ticket you have booked from B to C in Y Train . Due to some reason X train got delayed and you Y train from Station B got missed. In that case you can ask Station Master of Station B to issue you a Late Arrival Certificate. This certificate will help you to travel in another train from B to C without payment of any extra charge.

Late arrival certificate is a certificate issued by the station in-charge on request for claiming refund also. If onward journey is missed due to late arrival, the late arrival certificate can be utilized for the alternative arrangements in another train for preference to get accommodation.This is also can be used to claim DA,TA to rounding of to maximum eligibility for so called overstay accusations.

This is nothing new facility by Indian railways but most of people don't know about this facility.

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Know about IRCTC system Ticket Booking System Performance Report

We have been many a times booked ticket from IRCTC . But have you even thought how many ticket request the system can handle per minute/sec/day. Ministry has released this information on 19-January, 2016 on PIB

In 2002 Internet ticketing on IRCTC website was started ,at that time it booked only 29 tickets on the first day but now it has  increased to more than 13 lakh tickets booked in a single day

In 2014 ,IRCTC has upgraded the website and named it NGeT that is  Next generation e-ticketing system(NGeT)  was  launched on 28/04/2014 to handle increased ticket booking. The capacity was increased from 2000 tickets in a minute to 7200 tickets in a minute . The capacity of NGeT was further increased to 15000 tickets in a minute in 2015 to book tickets fast and easily. The e-tickets may be booked easily and faster through website and the IRCTC website is able to handle 15000 tickets per minute at present. The concurrent user connections were increased from 40,000 to 1,20,000 in NGeT,  which has further been increased to 3,00,000 . The enquiries in NGeT have also been increased from 1000 per second to 3000 per second. Capacity in NGeT was increased this year

Time taken in Booking of ticket:

The Next Generation e-Ticketing System (NGeT) is able to handle load of 15000 tickets in a minute. Hence 250 tickets can be booked concurrently in a second. At best, an individual user can book his ticket in 35 seconds.. The time taken for ticket booking depends upon the speed of internet at client end, form filling speed of individual and bank response time. At reservation counters, a ticket can be booked in less than 35 seconds.

Ticket Booking Capacity	15000 ticket per minute
Number of Concurrent User Supported	3 Lakh
Number of Enquiries per second	3000

To stop the misuse of website various time checks and Captcha have been implemented as discussed above. With these checks in place, it is not possible to book any Opening Tatkal ticket by any software being sold in the market earlier than 35 seconds. Tables shown below which indicate first 35 seconds bookings and   36th   second to 60th second booking separately at 10:00 AM and 11:00 AM for Opening Tatkal at PRS counters vis a vis IRCTC website.

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Good News for IRCTC Waiting List Ticket Holder.Soon WL(waiting list) e-ticket holder can board Train

There is a good news for people traveling in Indian Railways. If you have missed the trip several times in the train because of the waiting e-ticket, then it will not be so. Traveling e-tickets will also be able to travel on the train.

Not only this, passengers who are waiting for ticketing tickets will be able to claim the vacant seat.

The Railways appealed to the Supreme Court, against a decision. The Supreme Court has given great relief to the passengers traveling on the e-ticket while rejecting it. In fact, the Railways had appealed against the decision, in which the High Court directed him to eliminate discrimination between passengers traveling from the counter and passengers who travel by e-ticket.

It was so far that the passengers with waiting e-tickets could not travel on the train, while traveling passengers with reservation ticket taken from the Reservation Counter, as well as getting a seat in the event of the arrival of a passenger were also entitled.

The single bench of Justice Madan B Lokur rejected the appeal of the Delhi High Court against the orders of the Delhi High Court in 2014. That too because a lawyer from the railway did not reach the court for a debate on this matter.

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IRCTC website get new enhanced look with Confirm Predication

Much awaited changes required on IRCTC website has been at-last launched for user. The new look and feel and much more user friendly feature has been added . You can visit new look at this URL https://www.irctc.co.in/nget . Currently this is under Beta Phase for user trial.The best thing for this new look is that it is fully responsive design and compatible with mobile device which is not available in OLD version of Portal.

The new design has lot more improvisation and with much more user -friendly GUI for example they have added a ICON for DAY ,Night ,Total time for journey .Selection and navigation has made very easy than earlier.

Most importnt feature that IRCTC has added is WL/RAC ticket predication . This will tell you what is probability  your WL/RAC ticket.

According to the new feature of wait-list prediction, it provide prediction  about chances of a wait-listed or a RAC ticket to get confirmed on the basis of booking trends.

As per the officials , The algorithm will take into account last 13 years' data to arrive at a "robust, workable model".

If you see this feature is already being provided by private party and in this regard IRCTC is very late.
Well Official claim that IRCTC " Indian Railways system would be more reliable as it would have the advantage of the database of the national transporter.

Another important feature which IRCTC has dealyed is "NO Login required for PNR and Avalialbity status "

But this time IRCTC has made this now  user need not even log in to the new website to enquire or search for trains and check on availability of seats.

IRCTC has taken so long to revamp their website ,Now its time for people to provide feedback on this new look and new feature.

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Indian Railways to accept mAadhar as proof of identity

From now  the “m-Aadhaar, when dispalyed by the passenger on his/her mobile should be accepted as proof of of identity over Indian Railways.” Traveler Can display the Aadhar card on their mAadhar apps when required.

 m-Aadhaar is  mobile app was launched just recently by the Unique Identification Authority of India to promote ‘Digital India’. This apps enable used to carry their aadhar card in digital format in secure manner

The app is currently available for Android . Users can download the m- Aadhaar app on their Android smartphones via Google Play Store.

To know more about m-Aadhar Click here

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Get TATKAL TICKET as Cash On Delivery

Now passengers will be able to book tickets for Tatkal quota first and then pay their fare later. This service was available only for booking general tickets, now it will also be available for Tatkal booking. With the help of it, you can book tickets with two clicks. Under this, IRCTC website-Apps users will be able to make payment through cash, debit or credit card by selecting the ticket delivery at their home.

IRCTC's 'pay-on-delivery' payment provider Anduril Technologies. has announced this on Tuesday. Not only this, now instant tickets will be booked in seconds

IRCTC works to book 1 lakh 30 thousand tickets daily. Most of these tickets are booked for tatkal, within a few minutes of booking. Till now the users used to make payment through standard online payment gateways before confirming the ticket. This process was also delayed due to which many times users could not book Confirm Tickets.

The 'pay on delivery' service does not require the use of payment gateways and ticketing is done in just a few seconds. Anurag Bajpayee, Chief Executive Officer of Andoril said, "On-the-go delivery for immediate tickets will be very beneficial for those lakhs of passengers, who are required to make booking under the tatkal quota. Users already know that every second is precious when booking tickets under Tatkal. We have full faith that after booking tickets first and later users will be able to adopt a large number of payment options."

How to get Tatkal Ticket using Cash on Delivery

First of all, it is mandatory to give the information of Aadhar card or PAN card by registering the user on irctc.payondelivery.co.in.
After this, during the booking on the IRCTC portal, the user will have to opt for 'pay-on-delivery' of Anduril Technologies.
As soon as the ticket is booked, the ticket will be delivered via SMS / Email and payment is made within 24 hours of booking. You can even pay money online.

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Things that will change in Indian Railways from 1 July 2017

From 1 July Passeger will get refund of 50% on cancellation of Tatkal Ticket

Timing for booking tatkal will also be changed. From July 1, tatkal window for AC coach  -- 10 am to 11 am
Sleeper coach -11 am to 12 pm.

From July 1 the number of coaches on Rajdhani and Shatabdi will be increased

Rajdhani and Shatabdi trains will have paperless tickets from July 1. Mobile tickets will be valid on these trains.

Premium trains and dynamic fare will come to an end

For cancellation of Suvidha train tickets, passengers can get half refund

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From 1st March ,No refund for Non-Travellers

Railways is now going to modify the cancellation policy . From 1st March railway will not provide any refund on non-traveled ticket. That means you  cannot claim any refund when you have not traveled on that ticket. Earlier you have option to file a TDR and get the refund but now railways is now in mood to change the policy.

There will be no partial refund for person who has not traveled on group ticket on single PNR.
This rule will surely help to control black marketing of ticket by touts but at the same time this will add burden to passenger pocket.

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Pay using MobiKwik for Tatkal Ticket on IRCTC

mobile wallet service MobiKwik has started payment with Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) to launch e-cash payments for Tatkal bookings. According to MobiKwik, IRCTC customers can book Tatkal train tickets within two seconds using its service.Now IRCTC user can pay using  virtual wallet. earlier mobile wallet for Tatkal ticket was not allowed.Using this facilitu no dobut this will be faster and easier.

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Major Changes in Indian Railways rules from 1 July 2016

Major changes in Indian Railways rules

1) From July 1, passengers will get refund amount of 50 percent on cancellation of tatkal tickets.

2)  From July 1, tatkal window for AC coach will be open between 10 am and 11 am while for sleeper coach it will be open from 11 am to 12 pm.

3) No Waiting list ticket  will be issued from IRCTC. Suvidha trains will run if there is waiting list. Tickets shall be issued only for confirmed and RAC passengers in suvidha Trains. There shall be no provision for waiting list in the train.There will be provision of 50% refund on ticket cancellation in Suvidah Trains

4) The number of coaches on Rajdhani and Shatabdi will be increased.

5) Rajdhani and Shatabdi trains will have paperless tickets from July 1. Mobile tickets will be valid on these trains.

6) Railways will also start ticket printing in Regional Langauge

7) Premium trains will come to an end.

8) For Suvidha Trains 50% refund of fare subject to minimum flat cancellation charge of Rs. 200/- for AC-II tier/first class, Rs. 180/- for AC-III tier/3 Economy/ air conditioned chair car and Rs. 120/- for sleeper class will be granted for confirmed/RAC tickets upto 6 hours before the scheduled departure of the train or preparation of the chart whichever is earlier. No Refund of fare after that will
be granted. Such refund will be granted by filing TDR. 

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No service charge on using Credit /Debit card forTicket booking at PRS counter

From 1 June 2016 there will not be charged extra for using credit or debit card for booking train ticket at the Passenger Reservation System (PRS) counters as the Indian Railways Earlier to book the ticket using Credit /Debit card passenger has to  with Rs 30 service charge.at PRS counter

However, the service charge for booking tickets online through IRCTC website will remain unaffected.

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Easy Ticket Cancellation Method using 139

From Today  railway passengers can cancel their confirmed train tickets( Paper Ticket/i-ticket) by just dialing 139.
The passenger has to dial 139 for cancelling it with relvant PNR number and the sender will get a one-time password (OTP). Passenger has to reach the Passenger Reservation System (PRS) counter and reveal the OTP to claim refund.There is another option also that is  using IRCTC website
 and both the facilities were made operational from today.This will provide relief to passengers for
cancellation of tickets.

This  initiatives were promised in the Railway Budget 2016-17 which were fulfilled today.
After the change in refund rules, a lot of passengers were finding it difficult to reach counters to cancel the reserved tickets within the stipulated time and as a result they are losing money.
Railways has to changed the software accordingly for the cancellation through IRCTC website and 139.

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Change in Boarding Station online for e-ticket via IRCTC

If you book your ticket from  IRCTC  website i. e e-ticket there IRCTC has given  a special gift for those who come to book . Railway have given them the facility that they can change their Boarding station.Now you can go online and book tickets after that you can change your boarding the station c . Prior to this, people had to go to the ticket counter and then they have to do application for changing Boarding station , but now it will not like this. For E-ticket Passenger has to visit counter from where to start the journey had to be made ​​to change the reservation window with Photo copy of the e-ticket along with photo ID . but now you can  do it now you can change Boarding station two days prior from Date of Journey.

How do you change the station

Passenger  will have to go to  IRCTC reservation portal. Customers will have the option to change the ticket boarding. This facility will get live from February 15. If there will be any change in Fare due to station change then there will be no refund for excess fare.

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