Getting a confirmed train ticket during festive season, weddings or any sudden emergency is no less than a challenge. Tatkal and Premium Tatkal quotas also get exhausted within a few seconds and passengers are left stuck in the waiting list. Most of the passengers think that when the first reservation chart is prepared 4 hours before the departure of the train, after that all the ways to book tickets are closed forever. But this is not the reality. Even after the chart is prepared under the rules of Indian Railways and IRCTC, you can get 100% confirmed tickets on the remaining vacant berths in the train from your mobile.
In Indian Railways, the first chart of every train is prepared online about 4 hours before the time of departure from its originating station. Often, berths remain vacant in many coaches due to VIP quota, emergency quota (HO Quota) of railway officials, vacant quota of senior citizens or passengers canceling tickets at the last moment. Apart from this, many times passengers travel only to an intermediate station (like Lucknow to Kanpur or Prayagraj) instead of completing the entire journey, due to which the seat becomes vacant for the further journey. Railways does not let these vacant seats go to waste, rather opens them directly to the general public under ‘Current Reservation’.
IRCTC has made the entire system completely transparent and digital. You can see which berth number is vacant in which coach from your mobile phone within minutes after the chart is generated:
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First of all, open the official website of IRCTC (irctc.co.in) or IRCTC Rail Connect app.
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given on homepage ‘Charts / Vacancy’ Click on the icon (this will take you directly to the online reservation chart portal).
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Now enter your journey date, train name or 5 digit train number and select your boarding station (where to board).
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after this ‘Get Train Chart’ On clicking, the live layout of the entire train will open.
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Here you can click on Sleeper, Third AC, Second AC or Executive Class to see which seat number in which coach (like B1, B2 or S3) is completely vacant from which station to which station.
As soon as you see a vacant seat on the portal, you can instantly get a confirmed ticket without any agent in two simple ways:
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Online Booking from IRCTC App or Website: After the preparation of the first chart of the train, the ‘Current Booking’ window on the IRCTC portal remains open till 30 minutes before the departure of the train. If you search by entering the train number in the general search box, then on vacant seats the status ‘CURR_BKNG’ or directly confirmed seat number will be written next to the class. Pay normal fare and get confirmed PNR instantly.
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From the current reservation counter of the railway station: If you are present at the station, go to the PRS reservation counter of the station. There is a special ‘Current Booking Counter’, where after the chart is prepared, tickets for the remaining vacant seats are immediately issued at the normal counter fare.
Even if you have not been able to book a ticket in advance and have a general ticket or an authorized waiting ticket, there is a modern rule to get a confirmed berth in a running train. Indian Railways has now provided handheld terminals (HHT Tablets) to the TTEs of all trains. As soon as a passenger does not reach his seat or a berth remains vacant, the HHT machine immediately marks that berth vacant.
You board the train and directly meet the TTE of the concerned coach and request him to see the vacant seat in the HHT machine. If the seat is vacant till any further station, TTE will allot you an on-the-spot confirmed seat with prescribed fare and receipt from your tab itself. There is no need for any additional bribe or illegal transaction, because the system is completely linked to GPS and central server.
Very few passengers know that charts are prepared twice in Railways. The first chart is prepared 4 hours before the departure of the train, while ‘Second Chart’ Is issued just 30 minutes before the train departs from the platform. During the three and a half hours between the first and second charts, the final accounting of all the tickets that are canceled or are not sold in the current booking is done in this second chart. If you check the current booking on IRCTC app even 45 minutes before the departure of the train, then often you can easily find the canceled tickets at the last moment.