Kolkata: Train tickets can be booked 60 days in advance. But the trouble for most passengers is that getting confirmed tickets is nearly impossible since
thousands of passengers and booking agents scramble to book tickets as soon as the window opens and therefore tickets are exhausted in a few seconds or at best in a few minutes. If you want to travel home for Diwali or Chhath and you cannot book tickets within a few seconds of the window opening, they can be lost within seconds. Here are a few tips for raising your chances of landing with a confirmed ticket.
People living away from home for work are worried about whether they will get confirmed tickets to travel home for Chhath and Diwali. This year, Diwali is on November 8 and Chhath Puja is on November 15. People have started booking train tickets to travel home for the festivals. According to railway rules, you can book train tickets 60 days before the date of travel.
When does the booking window open
The advance booking window opens at 8 AM every day. The rush for tickets rises significantly during festivals when thousands of people return to their homes from work. The load on server rises and sometimes the site can fail to open and requests are not processed.
Tips to follow
Log in before the window opens: The entire focus should be on starting early. To get a confirmed ticket one has to log in 5-10 minutes before the booking window opens.
Filling in passenger details: One should also fill in the passenger details before the booking window opens. This can be done with the help of IRCTC Master List feature. All the details of the passengers for whom you want to book the train tickets should be filled up. This should be done in such a way that all the passenger details can be offered in a single click while booking.
Mode of payment: The mode of payment also matters. Remember the booking is not complete unless the payment is complete. So you have to select a fast payment mode too. You can preload funds into your IRCTC e-wallet so your payment request is processed immediately. There are other payment methods, but it can take some time for the OTP to arrive and be verified, which could result in a confirmed seat being transferred to a waiting list. The sooner you can complete the entire process up to the payment stage the higher the chances of getting a confirmed ticket.
