Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) is a subsidiary of the Indian Railways that handles the catering, tourism and online ticketing operations of the railways.
[edit]Services
[edit]Catering
IRCTC is in charge of catering services on trains and railway stations across India. Depending on the distance covered by the train and average passenger load factor, the railways either equips trains with their own pantry cars or provides meals at select stations en route.
[edit]Online ticketing
IRCTC is better known for changing the face of railway ticketing in India. It pioneered Internet-based rail ticket booking through its website, as well as from mobile phones via GPRS or SMS. Ticket cancellations or modifications can also be done online. In addition to E-tickets, IRCTC also offers I-tickets that are basically like regular tickets except that they are booked online and delivered by post.
Commuters on Mumbai's suburban railway can also book season tickets through the IRCTC website.
IRCTC has also recently launched a loyalty program called "Shubh Yatra" for frequent travellers. Through this program, passengers can avail of discounts on all tickets booked round the year by paying an upfront annual fee.[1]
[edit]Tourism
IRCTC also organizes budget and deluxe package tours for domestic and foreign tourists. A popular tourism package for budget tourists covering important tourist destination across India is Bharat Darshan.[2] Luxury tourism packages are also available, that involve special luxury trains such as:
One may log on to Rail Tourism India.[3] and book Rail Tour Package, Holiday Package, Hotels, Cabs, Tourist Trains online.
Apart from conventional tourism, IRCTC also offers adventure tourism packages that include water sports, adventure and wildlife treks, etc. A provision for customising tours as per specific requirements is also an added attraction.
[edit]Awards and achievements
Within a short span of its going online, the IRCTC website had become the largest and the fastest growing e-commerce website in the Asia-Pacific region, with about six lakh registered users in 2003.[4]
Some of the other awards won by IRCTC are:
- Awarded the National Tourism Award of Excellence by Ministry of Tourism, Govt. of India.
- Awarded the National Award for E-Governance, 2007-08 jointly by Department of IT, Govt. of India and Govt. of Haryana.
- Awarded the Genius of the Web Award 2007 for being the "Best E-Governance PSU Site" by CNBC.
- IRCTC Tourism Unit of West Zone declared winner for the category Best Value Leisure Product in Travel and Tourism Fair of India (TTF & OTM 2008) held in Mumbai from 9 to 11 February 2008.
- Won National award for E-Governance for being "Best Citizen Centric Application" for the year 2007-08.
- IRCTC Tourism Unit declared winner for the category Most Innovative Product in Travel and Tourism Fair of India (TTF & OTM 2007) held in Mumbai from 10 to 12 February 2007.
- Won CSI-Nihilent E-Governance award for "Best E-Governance Project" in 2007.
- Won the ICICI Bank Retail Excellence Award in 2005.
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