Indian railway ministry launched IRCTC ticket booking with SMS. The facility will allow anyone to book railway ticket without an Internet connection.
Here the few steps to IRCTC ticket booking with SMS
Step 1. Send a booking SMS in a specified format (see below) along with the DOJ (Date Of Journey), Class (II, II, AC etc.), Train Number and Passenger Details. Once you send your SMS, an SMS will arrive on your mobile informing you about the availability of the seats.
FORMAT:
BOOK <TrainNo> <FromCity> <ToCity> <TravelDate(DDMM)> <Class> <Passenger1-Name> <Age> <Gender> <Passenger2-Name> <Age> <Gender> (upto 6 passengers)
Example:
BOOK 12011 NDLS CDG 1404 CC Arun 25 M Anu 23 F
If the first message is sent successfully, you will receive following information through SMS from IRCTC -
Transaction ID
Ticket Amount
Service Charge
Total Amount payable
Seat Availability
Example:
TID: 2501368 Ticket Amount: 900 Service Charges: 20 Seat: AVAILABLE- 0228
Step 2. In the second SMS, you will have to make the payment. This is easier than you may think. There are two ways to do it:-
Use Mobile Money Identifier (Link: MMID) & an OTP aka One Time Password.
Prepaid Wallet Cards aka mWallets
Viz: PAY <Transaction ID as received> <IMPS is the mode of payment)> <Your MMID as
received from the bank> <OTP is your one time password received for this
transaction> <IRCTCUserID>
Example:
PAY 2501368 IMPS 123456 7897 Arun
Step 3. Receive a booking confirmation from IRCTC.
Example:
Congrats!! Your ticket booked successfully. PNR is: 2345678901 Ticket No:
:0672261674 Booking Status: Arun CONFIRM C1 76 WS Anu CONFIRM C1 77 Ticket
Amt: 900 SC: 20 Src: Chennai : Erode Date of Journey: 21/07/2013 Sch Dep
07:40 hrs
Important: points to be noted - only the regular tickets can be booked through this service. You will not be able to book tickets available through quota or tatkal through this service just as yet.