Now Book Rail Tickets Through SMS, See How

In regards to ease the rail ticket booking, Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) has launched SMS ticket booking for rail passengers. There are two dedicated numbers for SMS ticket booking - 139 and 5676714.

As to make ticket booking easier, IRCTC launched this service which can be used by everyone who own a mobile phone (internet enabled or not). All they have to do is send the details of booking through a SMS and then send a SMS for payment and it’s done. Let’s see how you can book a ticket through SMS –

*For SMS ticket booking through number 139, you need to register your mobile with IRCTC and your bank (over 25 banks are associated with this). Banks will provide MMID or Mobile Money Identifier and OTP (One Time Password) to each user.

*For SMS ticket booking through number 5676714, you need to register your mobile number with IRCTC and m-wallet (mobile wallet – which is available in most of the banks and mobile operators).

Use this format for SMS ticket booking through 139 –

BOOK [TrainNo][FromStn.Code][ToStn.Code] [TravelDate (DDMM)][Class][Passenger-Name][Age][M/F]

For example, if you want to go from Bhubaneswar (BBS) to Howrah (HWH) in Puri - Howrah Shatabdi Express (no. 12278) on 2 August 2013, 

then you need to type in – BOOK 12278 BBS HWH 0208 SL Rahul Ghosla 25 M. It’s the same way you’re inquiring about ticket fare through SMS.

After the message is sent, you’ll receive the transaction ID and other details. Then you need to pay using your MMID and OTP.

Send this to 139 - PAY [Transaction ID as received in SMS][Your MMID as received from the bank][OTP received from bank][IRCTC UserID].

Use this format for SMS ticket booking through 5676714 –

Send this to 5676714, START [irctc user Id]. Now send this,

BOOK [From stn.code],[to stn.code],[DDMMYY], [Trainno],[Class],[passenger name],[age],[M/F]

As soon as you get the transaction ID and other details, Send this SMS,

PAY [transaction no], MPAY, [m-PIN]; where m-PIN is your mobile wallet PIN or you can send this too PAY [mobileno],[mmid],[amount],[transaction Id],[OTP]

Once done, you’ll get the ticket booking confirmation SMS.