Indian train reservation system and bookings

Indian train reservation system and bookings

Want to know how to book train tickets in India? There are several ways that you can book train tickets in India. Both online and offline. But before we tell you about how to book the tickets. It is important to understand the procedure of how the complete Indian Railway reservation system works.

Note: The figures mentioned in the examples are indicative. This is just to give you an idea of the lifecyle of the reservation process. For exact fares and quotas read our guide on how to find availability in trains.

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Details about Seats and Quotas

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Location based Quotas:

When the booking starts a train of 1000 seats would be first divided in quotas based of location

80% seats for Source station travelers                    - MAIN QUOTA

20% seats for remote location travelers                  - REMOTE LOCATION QUOTA

Remote locations are important halts on the train's route. There is a separate quota of seats for these stations to benefit passengers from that location.  

Example: Pashchim Express

Runs between Mumbai  - Vapi - Baroda -Ahmedabad - Kota - Delhi

Let's say that this train has 1000 seats.

200 seats (20%)  might be reserved for passengers from Ahmedabad as remote location quota.

800 seats (80%) are kept for source station travelers (Mumbai)

Not all stations in a route get remote location quotas.

 Each train has different set of quotas on every different stations. One train can have none, one, two and even more remote location quotas.  So you must check each train separately. 

For now its sufficient to know that there are some seats reserved for remote location station passengers.

Why it's important to know this?

This information will later help you in getting confirmed tickets and predicting waitlist confirmations 

It will also help you in making "last minute travel" possible in Indian Railways.

Main quotas and Remote locations quotas are further divided into:

General quota 

This is for common people

Almost 500 seats out of 800 will be available under this quota.

You can cancel this ticket anytime before the departure of the train to get refund after some minor deductions.

Tatkal (Urgent Quota)

Is a newly introduced quota for last minute traveling needs.

This opens only one day before the actual train departure. 

Almost 100 seats out of 800 will be under this quota.

There is an additional fee apart from base fare to book this ticket.

There is no refund if you cancel this ticket.

V.I.P Quota

 This is reserved for important government officers, politicians etc. 

This quota will typically get around 60 seats out of 800 in a train.

Forget about getting this quota seat if you are a common man!

Foreign Tourist Quota

This is to encourage tourism

Almost 10 seats are reserved in each train under this quota.

There is no additional fee to book tickets under this quota. 

But this available only for foreign tourists with valid visa and passport.

Ladies Quota

Only for ladies who are traveling alone

6-10 seats in each train for them!

Other Quotas

There are several other quotas for handicapped, politicians, senior citizens lower birth etc. They all might take 50 seats together.