"Service Unavailable" this common message from the IRCTC may be a thing of the past. The IRCTC has launched the SMS based ticket booking for the railways with two dedicated numbers - 139 and 5676714 - for the service.
As per the requirement, one has to register the mobile number with IRCTC as well as one's bank. The bank provides MMID (Mobile Money Identifier) and OTP (one time password) for authorization of payment.
The passenger has to type the train number, destination, journey date, class and passenger details like name, age and gender on the SMS box.
The sender will receive transaction ID and then make payment through sending another SMS by typing PAY followed by the transaction ID, MMID as received from the bank and password and with this the passenger's ticket is booked.
IRCTC aims to make railway ticket booking even easier through SMS or menu-based USSD technology which works on all mobile phones. Through this service, customers can not only book tickets but also search for stations, trains, availability, PNR enquiry, make cancellation etc.
To book tickets through SMS
User must have an account on IRCTC (www.irctc.co.in)
User should have MMID & OTP (One Time Password) for IMPS Transaction
Same Mobile Number Should be registered with Bank and IRCTC.
Booking Procedeure
STEP-1: First register their mobile number with IRCTC and m-wallet, and send an SMS to 5676714 in the following format - START [irctc user Id]
STEP-2: Send below SMS with Journey & Passenger Information to 139 in the following formt
BOOK[From stn.code],[to stn.code],[DDMMYY], [Trainno],[Class],[passenger name],[age],[M/F]
Type
(Upto 6 Passengers) and send message to 139.BOOK 12420 NDLS GZB 0107 Sharad T 35 J Remya 30 F If the format sent is valid, you would receive a response message from 139 that look alike: Trans Id: 34004567 Ticket Amount: 120 IRCTC SC: 11.24 Total Amount: 131.24 Seat: AVAILABLE -0095. For Payment SMS PAY <34004567> IMPS IRCTCUserID to 139 to book ticket.
STEP-3: For payment, Send SMS with below syntax to 139.
PAY Send the SMS in the follwing format for the payment
PAY [Transaction ID as received][IMPS][Your MMID as received from the bank][OTP ][IRCTCUserID]
For Example:
PAY 340045667 IMPS 98453672 453289 Sharad
Confirm message will be received from 139 on successful booking of the ticket.
For Example:
Your ticket booked successfully: PNR is: 2345678901 Ticket No: 0672261674 Booking Status: Sharad CONFIRM S2 49 Remya CONFIRM S2 50 Ticket Amt: 120.0 SC: 11.24 Src: New Delhi Dst: Ghaziabad Date of Journey: 01/07/2013 Sch Dep 12:30 hrs
The service is available to all mobile subscribers and Rs 3 is being charged per SMS and payment gateway charges are Rs 5 for ticket amount upto Rs 5,000 and Rs 10 for more than Rs 5,000.
