Bulk Booking for Indian Railways Trains on IRCTC
To facilitate ease of booking and travel for people travelling in groups such as for marriage, sports tournaments, school/college educational tours/field trips, etc.,Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), which is the e-ticketing arm of Indian Railways has made the facility of booking bulk tickets in Trains. Here is step by step guide and conditions to do help in bulk booking of berths
However, bulk booking can only be done by going to the ticket booking centres as IRCTC allows only a maximum of six bookings, i.e., tickets for six people can be booked at once. In case you require reservation in excess of the above limit of 6 passengers you may contact the controlling officer/Chief Reservation supervisor of the concerned reservation office for permission to book more number of passengers in a group. However, such booking of bulk accommodation is available only after 10.00 hrs on computerized reservation system subject to overall limit on trains as per extant rules and availability of accommodation .
Covid 19 : Ticket Booking Suspended
Steps to do Bulk Booking in Trains
- Step I. Please submit a letter (in two copies) to authorised officials giving details such as train number, date of journey and of berths and the list of passengers.
- Step II. Get the permission of the authorised officials
- Step III Contact the bulk booking counter for purchase of tickets
Conditions to do bulk booking in Trains
- The reservation under bulk booking for upto 50 passengers is permitted by the CRS (Chief Reservation Supervisor) or the shift-incharge. For up to 100 people, the booking is permitted by the Area Manager/ ATM/ACM/SM (Gaz.) For more than 100 people, the authority to permit group booking is with the Senior DCM/DTM or the Area Manager, and is based upon subject to availability of maximum 25 per cent of the total accommodation.
- The bulk booking across New Delhi is made in the Reservation Complex, IRCA Building, though the service is available only at particular nominated counters. In other cities, not all railway stations provide bulk booking facility. Passengers must check in advance before visiting the station.
- IRCTC being the e-ticketing firm, does not allow ordinary citizens to book bulk tickets online, but the concerned authorities mentioned above (Chief Reservation Supervisor etc) can make the bulk booking on IRCTC once the required documents have been submitted and approval has been granted.
- After getting documents ready, a request letter has to be submitted to the concerned authority. If the journey is being authorised by a school/department/institution then along with the request letter, an issued certificate from the particular school/department or institution, has to be submitted to the authority. Similarly in case of marriage party or family function, the marriage card or the notarized affidavit along with the request letter have to be submitted.
- Along with these documents, the list of people with their names, age, gender etc., who are traveling in a group, have to be submitted. Apart from the above mentioned documents, the person who is making the reservation has to submit the photocopy of his/her own identity card.
- However, such booking of bulk ticketing is made available only after 10:00 AM on the computerized reservation system, which is subject to an overall limit on trains as per extant rules and the availability of accommodation.
- Submit the request letter to the authorized officials giving details such as train number, date of journey and list of passengers, along with the required documents.
- As per the Indian Railways guidelines, bulk booking is restricted for the opening day from 8:00 AM to 9:00 AM.
- At the stage of seeking the final permission, the names of passengers along with their age, gender, contact information have to be submitted in triplicate copies (three copies).
- In case of name change of any group member in the bulk booking procedure, an application has to be submitted, at least 48 hours prior to the scheduled departure of the train from the station. This application should be hand written by the head of the department/group/party. However, such request will be allowed only for once.
Relax the Norms on Bulk Booking
Southern Railway has decided to relax the norms imposed on bulk booking, Railway announced via press release on 23.12.2019. Details are following.
Bulk Booking is permitted without any restriction in all the Classes of accommodation and in all trains including Mail/Express, Rajdhani, Shatabdi, Duronto, Garib Rath trains and Special trains run during festive/peak seasons. The level of competency and ceiling/limit of Berths/Seats for permitting bulk reservation has been withdrawn. Chief Reservation Supervisor or Station Master is authorized to permit bulk booking of tickets at all the major locations.
