subject: Products And Services Offered By Irctc [print this page] Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) was set up with the objective of providing the catering facilities and the tourism services to the passengers. Having a widespread network of railways which touched every nook and corner of India, Railways was in a unique position to take the tourists close to the points of tourist interests, where even airports are not present. IRCTC initiated the online ticketing operations of railways. However, its operations have since been diversified to include a number of products and services. These are:
1.Flights booking: Just like the travel agencies and airlines offering train tickets on their portals, IRCTC too has started offering flight booking services. It allows the users to select preferred airliner for their travel from its list of airlines. Alternatively, searches for required flights can be done on all airlines. However, the limitation is that only domestic flights can be searched and booked on it.
2.Hotels booking: Being a tourism corporation, it offers facility of hotel reservation as well. Covering more than 350 cities and 5000 hotel, it has an elaborate reach to a wide range of hotels around the country. Another novel feature is that there are genuine reviews of customers presented for the benefit of prospective travelers.
3.Tours Trains: Since railways connect popular tourist destinations, it offers train tour packages to these destinations. There packages are:
a.Bharat Darshan: These are Discover India tourist trains which are currently being offered from the West and North zones of railways. At present, there are 13 such tourist train packages which can be availed by passengers.
b.Steam Express: This steam locomotive based train takes the tourists on the Delhi-Alwar-Sariska-Alwar-Delhi route for 1night/2 days.
c.Hill Charters: Under this category, different trains which operate are Darjeeling Himalayan railway, Kalka-Shimla Himalayan Railway, Nilgiris mountain railway, Neral-Matheran railway and Pathankot-Jogindernagar railway, covering different hill regions of the country.
d.Deccan Odyssey: This tourist train package covers tourist destinations of Maharashtra and Konkan region and promises a weeklong of royal journey.
e.Buddhist Circuit Special Train, Mahaparinirvana Express: This eight day special train package takes tourists to the places of Buddhist interest.
f.Maharaja Express Packages: These are luxury tourism packages on trains.
4.Cab Rentals: The cabs rental services are offered by IRCTC for some select cities. Using this service, you can do sight-seeing of cities and nearby tourist destinations by travelling in the privacy and comfort of a standard car.
Besides these product offerings, IRCTC also provides comprehensive tour packages and special facilities for foreign tourists including special train coaches for them. By providing these services, it has grown into a full-service tourist corporation which is not just centered on trains-related services.
