Since the advent of train journeys in 1853 when the first passenger train was started, Indian Railways has always been reinventing and innovating itself. From the days of steam engines to electric express trains, it has come a long way. While the make and comfort that the Indian Railways offer has obviously improved with the boost in technology, the truly revolutionary concept of the Indian Railways has been the introduction of the online railways reservation system. A highly risky venture considering the literacy rate of the country, let alone internet literacy rate, it has been a brave attempt at modernization of a government run public transport system.



While train tickets could always be booked from the large number of railway reservation counters of the Indian Railways, the attempt to offer the service online and to make it a smoother and convenient process for travellers has definitely been a successful one. Owing to the online railways reservation system, train tickets can be booked without the hassle of standing in queues, jostling with people or frantically searching for the right train as per timings and fare variations in different classes of train tickets. All the relevant information, including the number of trains from one destination to the other, available categories of coach classes, availability of train tickets for a particular class and the fare for each class, is just a few clicks away. What makes it even more convenient is the mode of payment. While earlier the online railways reservation process accepted only credit cards as mode of payment during booking of train tickets online, now other payment options like direct transfer and debit card can also be used to pay for train tickets on the online railways reservation system.

Keeping in sync with the traveller's convenience, train tickets booked through the online railways reservation system are available in the form of e-ticket (email tickets) or i-ticket (paper ticket). While the e-ticket, booked through the online railways reservation facility of the Indian Railways, is instantly delivered to the passenger through e-mail, an i-ticket is sent via regular mail, and takes 2-3 days to be delivered. Besides the convenience of booking train tickets, the online railways reservation system also offers information about other processes of the Indian Railways that are linked with online bookings. All essential information about the online railways reservation system and process is readily available including details of cancellation and concession policies.