IRCTC Alternatives
The IRCTC.co.in website has to be the most trafficked e-commerce site in India as you can book a train ticket online within minutes by paying a few rupees extra rather than buying them from a Railway ticket counter which has perennially long queues. In April 2010, there were over 7 million transactions carried out. The website has an Alexa Rank of 474.
These impressive figures are probably not due to the quality of the website but due to the monopoly that it enjoys. Like many, I've endured the slow-loading pages but since the last few months I'm happy to have discovered alternatives to IRCTC.
Since a couple of years, IRCTC has started providing an API at a hefty fee for third-party vendors. As a result, there are now a bunch of websites now that offer a superior interface & experience for buying train tickets online at a slightly higher cost, like -
I've tried the first two & am impressed with the clean interface & relative speed with which you can book tickets.
Booking a Tatkal ticket on Cleartrip appeared faster although it still probably hits IRCTC's servers. Some of these sites also occasionally have special offers. For instance, Cleartrip is giving away a cash back of upto Rs.100 on train bookings done through Net Banking till May 31st, 2010.
Also see:
Travel Planning & Reservation Tips using Online Tools
These impressive figures are probably not due to the quality of the website but due to the monopoly that it enjoys. Like many, I've endured the slow-loading pages but since the last few months I'm happy to have discovered alternatives to IRCTC.
Since a couple of years, IRCTC has started providing an API at a hefty fee for third-party vendors. As a result, there are now a bunch of websites now that offer a superior interface & experience for buying train tickets online at a slightly higher cost, like -
I've tried the first two & am impressed with the clean interface & relative speed with which you can book tickets.
The MakeMyTrip site interface (click to enlarge)
Booking a Tatkal ticket on Cleartrip appeared faster although it still probably hits IRCTC's servers. Some of these sites also occasionally have special offers. For instance, Cleartrip is giving away a cash back of upto Rs.100 on train bookings done through Net Banking till May 31st, 2010.
Also see:
Travel Planning & Reservation Tips using Online Tools
I have an IRCTC account which is locked second time.
ReplyDeleteWhen i tried to reset the password through forget password link, it asks User id, question and Answer. I provided all the details and it throws an error "Answer is Incorrect". This happend second time and both the times i tried to login through the actual password.
I waited for a week and there was no response from IRCTC customer care. I called them up on 24 Hrs. Customer Support at 011-23340000 and it took about 12 calls to make them understand about the issue. When ever i called up the customer support the person attnding the call will redirect me to someone else after listening to my detail and again i need to explain whole story, inshort that was waste of time and money.
I sent an email at care@irctc.co.in also submit at http://www.consumercourt.in/railways/14030-irctc-login.html and got an automated email as Ticket Confirmation for the request.
IRCTC should hire service and satisfaction oriented support executives so that it a common man has no pain of wasting time and money.
Can someone please help me.
Till there is a competitor for irctc, they wont wake. Remeber, they are a agmark brand govt office. they come to office for doing work, they will do what they have to do. they dont have to hear u boss.
ReplyDelete