Indian Railways has now become much advanced in terms of railway bookings and reservations. Earlier people used to stand in line for hours to get a railway reservation but gradually with the advent of technology, the trend has been shifted to online reservations.
Today, online railway bookings have become one of the easiest and reliable modes of booking tickets within the comfort of your home or office. The only things you need o have to enjoy the benefits of online reservations is a computer and a debit card or a credit card. Many websites give you an opportunity to book train tickets and far apart there is also an official site for the same.
Through the official website you can check out all the information regarding the train timings, train route, availability, and fare of the tickets. You can even check whether any alternative train is available for your destined route or destination. To book an online ticket, you have to fill the required details on the first webpage. The information includes your originating station, your destination, your date of journey and your class of accommodation. Then you get to select among two options, E-Ticket and I-Ticket.
E-Ticket is an option where you get the
railway reservation confirmation on the monitor after making the payment. You need to take the print out of this ticket while traveling along with an appropriate identity proof. Another option is the I-Ticket where in the ticket is couriered to the Indian address mentioned in the application form. A nominal fee is also charged for the courier. The only difference between the two is that in the case of E-Ticket you have to carry an identity proof and you can book this ticket from anywhere across the world but in case of I-Ticket no foreigner can book a reservation as the ticket is couriered to an Indian address.
The key disadvantage of online railway booking is the additional charges that are levied as expenses of the benefit you enjoy. Though there are extra charges but still this seems to be a better option in this fast moving world.
If you want to check out some information on trains and wish to know more about railway bookings, you can visit the official website on http://www.indianrail.gov.in/ or http://www.irctc.co.in/