IRCTC: i-Ticket vs E-Ticket vs Tatkal Ticket, all you want to know in brief about Indian Railways ticketing system
Indian Railways, through its ticketing arm offers a number of ways that passengers can buy their train tickets At times, passengers can get confused about which one is for them. To cut through the confusion, here we explain the difference bentween IRCTC booking of I-tickets, e-tickets and tatkal tickets. Image source: youtube
IRCTC I-ticket- refers to a Railway reservation booked on this website for the consummation of which a printed Railway ticket on standard Stationery is dispatched by IRCTC to the Customer through the courier, which constitute the authority to travel on trains. Image source: irctc.co.in
IRCTC E-ticket- refers to a Railway reservation booked on this website, for the consummation of which the customer prints out an Electronic Reservation Slip which, along with one of the authorized personal identification, constitutes the authority to travel, in lieu of the regular ticket on standard Stationery. Image source: irctc.co.in
IRCTC Tatkal Ticket- A ticket booked against Tatkal Quota against extra payment of premium charges as per extant Railway rules. Image source: irctc.co.in
IRCTC Ticket - means any ticket issued by Indian Railways IRCTC subsidiary. It is an authorization to travel using our ticket booking facility for the specified journey over the network of Indian Railways. This can mean an I-ticket or an E-ticket. Image source: irctc.co.in
Notably, these services are available on Indian Railways IRCTC website, which is irctc.co.in. However, the same can be had at selective mobile service operators through IRCTC ‘web services’ - for use of booking tickets through mobiles. However, different mobile service providers may have made different restrictions / limitations in their packages offered to their mobile subscribers. So, passengers need to ba careful while booking tickets. Image source: irctc.co.in