Book IRCTC Railway Tickets using SMS

Tired of Long Queues on Railway stations and Server problems online ? Come on, Let's get rid of Internet and still book Railway tickets on SMS. - Yes You heard it right. on SMS !

Indian Railways has taken a step ahead for the reservation system and made it more easier to book the tickets using Mobile with just SMS or USSD

Note : This service will be active from 1st July, 2013

There are basically two ways :

1. SMS : By Sending a Text SMS
2. USSD : Interactive Menu based Selection

SMS Based Booking :

There are three providers for the SMS Based Railway ticket booking.
Bharat BPO
Frequency Weekly
Pyro Group

Bharat BPO :

STEP 1: 
An sms to be sent to --- (Number Coming soon) from your registered mobile (both at Bank
and IRCTC)

SMS Format to be used:
BOOK <TrainNo> <FromCity> <ToCity> <TravelDate(DDMM)> <Class> <Passenger1-
Name> <Age> <Gender> <Passenger2-Name> <Age> <Gender> (upto 6 passengers)

For example : BOOK 12011 NDLS CDG 1404 CC Rakesh 55 M Sarita 53 F

If the format sent is valid, you would receive a message from .The message would carry
the following unique parameters.

• Transaction ID,Ticket Amount, Service Charge, Total Amount payable, Seat Availability
For example:
TID: 2501368 Ticket Amount: 900 Service Charges: 20 Seat: AVAILABLE- 0228

STEP 2:  On receipt of the above parameters, SMS to be sent for payment of the ticket.
PAY <Transaction ID as received> <IMPS is the mode of payment)> <Your MMID as
received from the bank> <OTP is your one time password received for this
transaction> <IRCTCUserID>

For Example: PAY 2501368 IMPS 123456 7897 Rakesh

Message received on successful booking of the ticket
Congrates!! Your ticket booked successfully. PNR is: 2345678901 Ticket No:
:0672261674 Booking Status: Rakesh CONFIRM C1 76 WS Sarita CONFIRM C1 77 Ticket
Amt: 900 SC: 20 Src: New delhi Dst: Chandigarh Date of Journey: 14/04/2013 Sch Dep
07:40 hrs

Frequency Weekly

Send START IRCTC_User_Id to (number coming shortly) authenticate the user for the first
time in the system and to receive the SMS booking format in response to this message
START myirctcid009

SMS response for the above example will be:
Send booking SMS as :
BOOK FrmStnCode,ToStnCode,DDMMYY,TrnNo,Class,PsngrName1,Age1,M/F,PsngrName2,Age
2,M/F,PsngrName3,Age3,M/F,PsngrName4,Age4,M/F

For example: BOOK NDLS,ALD,280313,12418,SL,varun,23,m,ezaz,23,m,priyanka,24,f,sukhbir,25,m

SMS response for the above example will be:
"Availability details are TxnID: 92224487261426141055, Fare:277
(Incl.ISC:Rs10,ASC:Rs10,PG:Rs10) Avail: AVAILABLE-0529.

Please send SMS PAY 92224487261426141055,IMPS/MPAY to book ticket.
PAY TransactionID,<IMPS> or <MPAY>

The user can pay either through IMPS or through mWallet
For example: PAY 92224487261426141055,MPAY

SMS response for the above example will be:
Booking successful. PNR: 5612345567, TRAIN: 12418, DOJ: 28/03/2013 Dep.Time: 22:30
NDLS to ALD, VARUN Confirm S6 0035, EZAZ Confirm S6 0036, PRIYANKA Confirm S6
0037, SUKHBIR Confirm S6 0038

Pyro Group

This is applicable only for BSNL Sim for Java Phones with Andhra Bank Prepaid Card

1. Click BSNLPrepaidCard.jad to initiate the installation
2. Select the Register option in the application menu to
get the mPIN

USSD based Booking :

SMS Services are currently offered by:- Airtel Money

Step 1 : Dial designated number, you shall receive a Menu Based Screen dialling. 

Step 2 : Select 'book tickets' option, select 'reservation' (user is prompted to enter his IRCTC user ID once only), enter details (date of journey, station, train no, class, etc)

Step 3 : Enter mPIN for authorizing payment through mobile wallet

Note : All the details are provided by  IRCTC