IRCTC online reservation portal has two different types of ticket booking facility, one e-ticket and another one is i-ticket.most of the IRCTC users are not aware of i-ticket.here we will discuss advantages and disadvantages of IRCTC i-ticket.
E-Ticket: An e-ticket or electronic ticket is the most common type of online ticketing where a passenger can book his/her train reservation from the IRCTC website. IRCTC will send a paperless ticket to An email and Mobile number (SMS) after the successful booking of the e-ticket. The user can also take a printout of the booked ticket to show TTE while travelling. The SMS received from IRCTC is also considered as ticket.passenger should carry any one of the ID cards to travel.
I Ticket: An Internet ticket is the same as railway reservation counter ticket. The main advantage here is that you need not have to visit the railway reservation counter physically, but rather book it from the comfort of your home. It is useful for those who are unable to go to a railway booking counter to book the train reservation. I-Ticket also aimed at providing online booking facility to those passengers who do not have access to the printer. In case of i-ticket, the booking procedure remains the same as booking an e-ticket. However, it does not get sent to your mailbox. Instead, IRCTC delivers the ticket to your home address by courier service.
Difference between e-ticket and i-ticket
Booking Time: While e-tickets can be booked at any time till the final chart prepared on the day of travel, atleastBut i-tickets must be at least3 days in advance. Why because IRCTC requires a minimum of 3 days to deliver the ticket to your doorstep via courier service.Ticket Cost: The cost of e-ticket is inclusive of the actual fare plus service charges. I-Tickets attract additional postage charge for delivering the ticket to the passenger's address. So the cost of i-tickets is slightly more than e-tickets.
Tatkal Facility: Tatkal quota tickets can be booked as e-tickets. However, the tatkal service cannot be availed with i-tickets as the tickets are required to be booked at least three days in advance.
Lost Tickets: In a case of a lost e-ticket, one can simply take another printout of the email sent by IRCTC. Taking a duplicate i-ticket is a difficult task. One has to visit the railway reservation counter and provide the PNR details to get a duplicate copy of i-ticket. Duplicate i-ticket also attracts additional charges.
Waiting List Tickets: Unconfirmed e-tickets which are on the waiting list at the time of chart preparation automatically get cancelled. So one cannot travel with waiting list e-tickets. In a case of i-tickets, there is no automatic cancellation for waitlisted tickets. So if you want to travel at any cost, even in a unreserved compartment, then opting for i-ticket makes sense.
Ticket Cancellation: e-tickets can be cancelled in IRCTC online portal, and the money refund will credit to your bank account/credit card which was used for the transaction. Online cancellation facility is not available for i-tickets. The user has to visit the railway reservation counter for the cancellation of i-tickets. However, money refund will be made offline only. It gets credited back to the user bank account within three business days after initiating the cancellation request. Also, the cancellation charges for i-ticket is higher than the e-tickets.
ID Proof: In case of e-tickets, travelling with a valid ID Card is mandatory. However, the ticket checkers usually don't ask to show ID proof while travelling with an i-ticket.
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Indian Railways
IRCTC
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