Booking Railway Ticket Through SMS

One of the most important facility of IRCTC is that you can book your tickets through SMS. Especially in times of hurry and you have no internet to access. However you will not be able to book tatkal tickets but it is very much useful for people who don’t know to
book online. Although it’s a little complex but very handy for booking e-tickets.
I have tried to cover the whole point from banks to booking but if you have any doubt you can ask in comments.

irctc sms ticket booking

Important things you will need to book a ticket through SMS on 139 –
• User should be registered on IRCTC’s website (www.irctc.co.in)
• User should have MMID & OTP (One Time Password) for IMPS Transaction
• ICICI bank customer can booked ticket directly through bank.
• Same Mobile Number should be registered with Bank & IRCTC

Important abbreviations you should know about –

What is IMPS?
Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) is an instant interbank electronic fund transfer service through mobile phones. It is also being extended through other channels such as ATM, Internet Banking, etc.

What is MMID?
Mobile Money Identification Number (MMID) is a seven digit number of which the first four digits are the unique identification number of the bank offering IMPS.

Is IMPS facility through OnlineSBI available to all customers?

The facility is available to all registered users of OnlineSBI having transaction rights on one or more accounts.

How I can remit money using IMPS through OnlineSBI?

a. Log on to ‘www.onlinesbi.com’

b. Visit ‘Profile’ section and click on Manage Beneficiary.

c. Select ‘IMPS Beneficiary’

d. Add details for the beneficiary

e. Approve the beneficiary using OTP (one time password) received on your registered mobile number.

What beneficiary details the customer requires to effect an IMPS remittance from Person to Account?

The beneficiary details required are:

a. Name of the beneficiary

b. Account Number of the beneficiary

c. IFS Code of the beneficiary bank

Similarly you can d with other banks. IRCTC provide special facility with ICICI bank.

For Customers having Bank Account in ICICI Bank

Following is the method to book rail tickets using this SMS service:
STEP 1: Send an SMS to 139 from your registered mobile number (registered with ICICI Bank
and IRCTC)
You will receive a message with the following details:
 Transaction ID
 Ticket Amount
 IRCTC Service Charge (IRCTC SC)
 Total Amount
 Seat Availability

For example:
STEP 2: On receipt of the above details, send an SMS to 139 for the payment of the ticket.
BOOK <TrainNo> <FromCity> <ToCity> <TravelDate(DDMM)> <Class> <Passenger1-Name>
<Age> <Gender> <Passenger2-Name> <Age> <Gender> (upto 6 passengers) ICICI

For example:
BOOK 122105 KYN PUNE 3008 2S Rakesh 55 M ICICI
Trans Id: 2501368 Ticket Amount: 85.0 IRCTC SC: 11.24 Total Amount: 96.24
Seat: AVAILABLE- 0653 For Payment SMS PAY 2501368 ICICI Last six digits of your ICICI
Account number IRCTC UserID to 139. Note that your mobile number must be
registered with ICICI and IRCTC.
PAY <Transaction ID as received> <ICICI> < last 6 digits of your ICICI Bank account
number> <IRCTCUserID>
For Example:
PAY 2501368 ICICI 123456 RakeshKumarYou will receive the final confirmation message:

For Other Bank customer’s booking is allowed through IMPS only:

STEP 1: Send below SMS with Journey & Passenger information to 139:
If the format sent is valid, you would receive a response message from 139. The message
would carry the following information –
 Transaction ID
 Ticket Amount
 IRCTC Service Charge
 Total Amount payable
 Seat Availability

For example:
STEP 2: For Payment, Send SMS with below syntax to 139
BOOK <TrainNo> <FromCity> <ToCity> <TravelDate(DDMM)> <Class> <Passenger1-
Name> <Age> <Gender> <Passenger2-Name> <Age> <Gender> (upto 6 passengers)

For example:
BOOK 12420 NDLS GZB 2606 2S Rakesh 55 M Sarita 53 F
Trans Id: 340045667 Ticket Amount: 120 IRCTC SC: 11.24 Total Amount: 131.24
Seat: AVAILABLE-0095. For Payment SMS PAY <34004567> IMPS <MMID> <OTP> IRCTCUserID to
139 to book ticket.
PAY <Transaction ID as received> IMPS <MMID as received from bank> <OTP as
received from bank for this transaction> <IRCTCUserID>
For Example:
PAY 340045667 IMPS 98453672 453289 Rakesh
Ticket booked successfully.
PNR: 8502618225
Ticket No: 0728109603
Booking Status: Rakesh CONFIRM D2 0084 WS
Class: 2S
Ticket Amt: 85.0
SC: 11.24
Src Stn: KALYAN JN
Dst: PUNE JN
DOJ: 30/08/2013
Shd Dep: 06:37

Following message will be received from 139 on successful booking of the ticket –
PLEASE NOTE: MMID generation is a single click process available with more than 26 Indian
Banks covering over 90% of the total banking subscriber base.
The banks for the same are listed at http://www.npci.org.in/bankmember.aspx
“OTP” is a One Time Password generated and provided by your respective bank.

CANCELLATION PROCESS:
Registered IRCTC users can now cancel the railway tickets booked by them through SMS
earlier by a simple two step process.

CASE 1: The Entire ticket needs to be cancelled:
STEP 1: An SMS to be sent to 139 from your registered mobile to request for cancellation of
the ticket. SMS format as follow:
After submission of the above SMS, a message would be received from 139. The text of the
same is mentioned below.
STEP 2: After receipt of the above message, the user needs to confirm the cancellation by
sending an SMS as “YES” to 139.
After submission of the above SMS, a message would be received from 139. The text of the
same is mentioned below.

CASE 2: The ticket needs to be partially cancelled.
Your ticket booked successfully. PNR is: 2345678901 Ticket No: :0672261674 Booking
Status: Rakesh CONFIRM C1 76 WS Sarita CONFIRM C1 77 Ticket Amt: 120.0 SC: 11.24
Src: New Delhi Dst: Ghaziabad Date of Journey: 26/06/2013 Sch Dep 12:30 hrs
CAN <10 Digit PNR> <IRCTC UserID>

For Example:
CAN 2345678901 Rakesh
We have received your request to cancel PNR Number 2345678901. Please confirm the
cancellation by sending YES to 139 or for any change in cancellation data, send a fresh
request.

“Your ticket for passenger <Passenger1 Name> <Passenger2 Name> with PNR Number:
2345678901 is cancelled. Amount: 60 will be refunded in your account.”

STEP 1: An SMS to be sent to 139 from your registered mobile to request for initiating a
partial cancellation of the ticket so booked by you earlier. Format of the SMS:
After submission of the above SMS, a message would be received from 139. The text of the
same is mentioned below.
STEP 2: After receipt of the above message, the user needs to confirm the cancellation by
sending SMS as “YES” to 139.
After submission of the above SMS, a message would be received from 139. The text of the
same is mentioned below:

NOTE:
1. Booking with Quota including (Tatkal) and Concessions are not available as of now.
2. Payment for the bookings can only be made through IMPS.

Source: services.irctc.co.in

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