W

For long the government own IRCTC has been the only website to book train tickets over internet. Some times back this was ‘privatised’, meaning there are multiple choices to book train tickets, much like the airline tickets.

Arguably the top private players are MakeMyTrip.com, Yatra.com and Cleartrip.com

Registration: You’ll need to make an one time registration with the IRCTC website (irctc.co.in). So is with other private portals. The catch is, you still need to have a irctc.co.in login registration even if you prefer to book tickets only through one of those websites listed (MakeMyTrip.com, Cleartrip.com etc). It sounds bureaucratic, but that’s how things are…

The complexity is more, especially if you are trying to register with IRCTC abroad. The reason is, the authentication code is send to your mobile number in India! (do not lose heart, it is possible to register at IRCTC from abroad, through it is a longish process involving you to get in touch with the IRCTC support over email)

Ease of Booking On this front all of the private train ticket booking portals ( esp MakeMyTrip.com and Cleartrip.com ) are far better than the government run irctc.co.in portal. The presentation of information is very clean and intuitive on the private train booking websites.

Probably the best part of the private website are their reliability. It’s quite less likely MakeMyTrip.com or Cleartrip.com would throw up errors/slows down during your booking process. Imagine this, an overwhelming majority of the online train ticket bookings still is done over the irctc website. Players like MakeMyTrip.com and Cleartrip.com are catching up. So you’ll have the advantage of using a less burdened system from private booking portals.

And do not underestimate this. Slowing down and retries makes or breaks your chances of getting a confirmed ticket ( or even a better Wait-listed ticket), especially for those high demand trans during peak periods, like Tatkal tickets.

So the conclusion is this. Better efficient booking websites increases you chances of getting a confirmed reservation. Private websites like MakeMyTrip.com , Cleartrip.com , Yatra.com fares a shade better than the IRCTC.co.in

Payment Everyone charges a nominal booking fee. Guess one would not worry much, since the reservation charges are a minuscule portion (Rs10,Rs20 etc) of the ticket cost. Also everyone charges a comparable Credit Card processing charges, if booked the tickets using a credit card.

So on the cost front, you are not going to save or lose considerably from one over the other.

So are everyone the same on the payment front? Not exactly. There are quite a few significant factors to consider based on your situation.

For Example, irctc.co.in would expect you to have one of the many payment options, like online bank payment and credit card and even the eWallet option where you can deposit amount that can be used to make quick payments. So the Indian travelers find payment for reserved ticket a no issue with irctc website. At the time of writing this(mid 2014), IRCTC does not accept foreign Credit Cards, except probably the Amex card.

MakeMyTrip.com , Cleartrip.com , Yatra.com etc are list like another online services that accepts credit card payments online.

Also many private players in online ticket booking allows you to store the Credit Card in your profile. This saves you time to enter those details every-time you book a ticket. Imagine the mistake you may make in a hurry and the possibility of re entering it, the time lost and you get pushed behind in the ‘queue’! On that account the anyone in the online train ticket booking that offers an efficiency (read as the less number of steps).

The private websites here fares well. Irctc is not far behind, if you take advantage of the eWallet option it offer, well in advance.

So the point is this, if you are booking Indian train tickets from abroad, you are better of with one of the private portals like MakeMyTrip.com , Cleartrip.com , Yatra.com.

For all that matter you may already have a MakeMyTrip.com registration, though you’ve to go through the complicated (welcome to India!) one time irctc.co.in registration.

Booking on Connections Trains This is the place IRCTC.co.in wins by a great margin over others.

So what does this mean? Imagine journey involves travel by two different trains (connections). For Example You need to catch two trains to reach Simla from Delhi. The first train is Delhi to Kalka and the second train from Kalka to Shimla.

At IRCTC you can book this full route in one stork, with a single ticket. At the other train ticketing websites, you have to book this as two separate tickets.

Another example is the Chennai (MAS) to Ooty (UAM) train booking. At IRCTC you can book this as one ticket covering the from Chennai (MAS) to Mettupaliyam (MTP) route by Niligiri Express (Train No:12671) and Mettupaliyam to Ooty by the Mettupaliyam-Ooty Passenger ( Train No:56136 ) as a single ticket.

At other online booking websites, you will need to book these as two separate tickets.