IRCTC train ticket prices go up! From today, Indian Railways passengers have to pay more to book e-tickets

IRCTC train ticket prices go up! Indian Railways passengers booking train tickets online via the IRCTC next-generation e-ticketing website will have to shell out more from today. IRCTC or Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation has restored service charges for online train ticket booking, effective September 1. Called the “convenience fee” for booking tickets, the service charge was waived off in November 2016 to promote digital payments. Now, almost 3 years after that decision, IRCTC is reintroducing the service charges, in effect implying that Indian Railways passengers will now have to pay a higher amount to book train tickets online.

IRCTC service charges for non-AC and AC train tickets:

• As per the new rule, passengers will have to pay Rs 15/- as convenience fee or service charge for booking non-AC train tickets
• For online ticket booking of AC class train tickets, IRCTC will charge passengers a convenience fee of Rs 30/-
• According to IRCTC, this is less than the service charge that was applicable on online train e-ticket booking three years back. Earlier, a service charge of Rs 20/- and Rs 40/- was applicable for non-AC and AC class train tickets respectively.
• In case the payment for train tickets is made through BHIM/UPI app, the service charge will be Rs 10/- and rs 20/- for non-AC and AC class train tickets respectively.

In 2018, IRCTC revamped its next-generation e-ticketing website, irctc.co.in, to make it more user-friendly – both in terms of checking availability of tickets and also getting common queries answered. IRCTC introduced the ‘Ask Disha’ chatbot on its website that answers the frequently asked questions by users with regards to booking, cancellation and refunds of train e-tickets. IRCTC also introduced a waitlist prediction tool – CNF probability – that gives the user a percentage possibility of the waitlisted train ticket getting confirmed. This allows users to make a more informed choice while booking tickets and even opt for the VIKALP scheme that gives reservations in alternate trains.