Things You Need to Know About IRCTC Group Ticket Booking

By: Sakshi Kumari | onJune 3, 2023

Whether it’s planning to travel by train in a group or solo, you need to plan it well, and what comes between is the train ticket booking. Booking train tickets with a few people is convenient with IRCTC online booking facility, but it gets quite complicated while booking bulk tickets for a group. That’s why here we have all the information to aid you with IRCTC Group Ticket Booking.

Group Ticket Booking in IRCTC: An Overview

IRCTC Group Ticket Booking becomes needed when you travel in a group for marriages, business meetings, educational tours, sports tournaments, social events etc. Although, with IRCTC you can only book 6 passenger tickets at once. And 24 train tickets monthly if your User ID is Aadhaar verified—or 12 passengers if the user id is not verified with Aadhar.

Booking tickets in multiple of six is an option to book tickets for various people, but it doesn’t guarantee you all seats in the same coach of Indian railways. In addition, if you are travelling with more than this number of passengers, getting bulk tickets becomes a stressful situation, and things get unmanageable. To ease this problem, Indian Railways allows travellers to book tickets in bulk in all Classes of accommodation and in all trains including Mail/Express, Rajdhani, Shatabdi, Duronto, Garib Rath trains and Special trains run during festive/peak seasons.

How to Book Group Tickets for Indian Railways

You must know that the Bulk train booking facility is only available at ticket booking centres. So, if you need to book bulk accommodation, you must visit the computerised reservation counters during working hours. The bulk booking depends on the availability of trains, previous booking history, and accommodation rules.

Here are the steps you need to follow to book a group train ticket booking.

Decide your journey date. Figure out your preferred trains, the number of berths/seats and the list of passengers. And visit your nearest railway station to submit all the details to authorised railway officials along with proof of the reason you are going in a group, such as a marriage card or certificate issued for a business meeting, tournament, or educational trip.
Get permission for your group tour from the authorised rail officials. At major locations, Chief Reservation Supervisor or Station Master is authorised to permit bulk booking of tickets.
After taking the permission, Visit the bulk booking counter of the stations for your bulk purchase of tickets.

Conditions Applied on Bulk Ticket Booking in Railways

Chief Reservation Supervisor or shift in charge can only allow bulk train ticket booking of up to 50 passengers.
To book train tickets for up to 100 people, you need to contact the Senior DCM/DTM or the Area Manager. However, booking for 100 berths depends on the availability of a maximum of 25 percent of the total accommodation.
Passengers can not book bulk tickets online with the IRCTC e-ticketing website. Although, after approval from authorised railway officials, railway persons can book their tickets online on IRCTC.
You must know the bulk ticket booking facility is unavailable at all the stations.
To book tickets in bulk, you need to submit the names of all passengers along with their age, gender, ID card, and contact information in two copies.
You need to submit bulk booking train tickets at least 48 hours before the actual departure of the train.

Apart from these, you must know about one of the special IRCTC facilities to “book bulk tickets in Tejas Express”.

Tejas Express IRCTC Special Group Ticket Booking Facility

Semi-high speed, Tejas Express is a modern fully air-conditioned train with an automatic door facility, including a dedicated coach in New Delhi to Lucknow route train for online group booking. The booking can be made for parties, educational trips etc.

Features of Group Booking on IRCTC Tejas Express

The coach is a fully Air-conditioned Chair Car.
It has 78 seats, and booking can be made online.
The coach has onboard infotainment facilities.
According to the journey timings, Morning Tea, Break Fast, Snacks, Dinner, and High tea will be served to the passengers.
The coach will have RO Water Filter, Tea and Coffee vending machines.
The fare for an entire coach having a seating capacity of 78 will be charged even if the passenger group is less than 78.
You need to make a group booking between 60 days and 5 days before the journey date.
Security money of RS. 1,00,000 need to be deposited for coach booking in Tejas Express.
In addition, if cancellation is made before 30 days of the journey date, a refund will be initiated after dedicating 25%. If cancellation is made before 10 days, the deduction will be 50%. And between 5-10 days, the deduction amount is 70%. Moreover, if you cancel your group travelling between 1 to 5 days, the deduction is 80%. And, if you cancel the coach reservation only one day before, there will be no refund.

How to Book Group Tickets Online on IRCTC

Here are the steps you need to follow for group ticket booking:

Visit IRCTC official website or install IRCTC Rail Connect App.
Log in with your user ID and password.
Click on the Train options from the menu bar. Now fetch the option “IRCTC Trains”.
Tap on it. You will see the option of “Group Booking”. Click the option.
Now, you will be redirected to a new page. There will be some details about Tejas Express along with a button for group ticket booking.
Click on “Proceed with Group Booking”. A new page will open.
Passengers can choose between two trains- Train No. 82501 IRCTC Lucknow – New Delhi Super Fast Exp and Train No. 82502 IRCTC New Delhi-Lucknow.
Click on Book Options and fill in all the details.

By successfully paying the coach fare, group ticket booking IRCTC online will be done. Now, proceed with other plans to add more fun to your trip.

According to your requirements and needs, you can make either IRCTC group booking in Tejas Express of the Lucknow-Delhi route or contact a railway official to bulk ticket book for other trains and routes.

How Can I Book Bulk Food on Train?

Food is needed for travelling. If you book your trip with Tejas Express, you will be provided with food. But, if you make bulk ticket bookings on other trains with authorised rail officials, you need to book your group meal separately. However, unlike bulk ticket booking, group food order is relatively easy.

With RailMitra, e-catering service, you can book bulk food or call their 24*7 customer care executives at 8102202203 to make bulk food order in train. The rail app offers discounts on bulk food orders.

Can I Book a Retiring Room in a Group?

Yes, IRCTC retiring room online booking is also available for groups. You simply need to visit the IRCTC e-ticketing website, search for the retiring room booking option, and enter your PNR number to book your accommodation at the railway station. Indian Railways Retiring Room Booking Process is easy.

How can I Plan a Group by Train?

Planning a group trip is really a tough task. You will need to manage numerous things. So, plan ahead. Check trains between stations, seat availability, travel fare and more in advance.

RailMitra rail enquiry app is a one-stop solution for all your train journey-related queries. Its various railway tools aid you in checking PNR online, train schedule, live running station, train arrival and departure, train between stations, etc., to ease your train trip planning.