How to Book an Entire Train Coach for Indian Wedding

Are you about to marry that special person in your life and looking for ways to take your family and friends to the wedding destination on a train? Do you want to book an entire train coach in Indian Railways so that your loved ones could attend your wedding?

Well, you landed on the exact place to find all of your answers. Indian Railways allows travellers to book a train coach, multiple coaches or even an entire train.

In this blog we are going to discuss every step of booking an entire train coach for your wedding celebration. We are going to discuss the procedure involved, the documents required, the amount that needs to be paid and which Railway Officers need to be contacted to avail this service. 

So, be ready to experience the wedding on wheels. Let’s go!

Why Book a Train Coach for a Wedding?

Different people have different tastes. Some like to travel by air while some like roads. However, Train travel has a special place in the hearts of Indians. Especially when friends and family are travelling together.

Here are some of the reasons people opt to book a train coach for a wedding:

• Comfort and Convenience: Indian Weddings usually invite hundreds of guests. Co-ordinating travel of such large groups could be overwhelming. Booking a train coach for the guest simplifies the travel process ensuring comfort for the passengers.

• Economical travel option: Booking railway coaches under IRCTC’s Full Tariff Rate (FTR) is far more affordable than booking individual tickets for everyone. This becomes significant when travelling with a large number of attendees.

• Ensuring privacy: When an entire coach is booked, the ‘baraatis’ can travel with peace without random interference by unknown strangers.  The atmosphere of a wedding is maintained allowing passengers to relax, celebrate and prepare for the upcoming wedding.

• Customization options: When the complete coach is booked, travellers can add certain decorations to it. This is not possible otherwise.

• Ample availability of space: Activities like a marriage ceremony require a lot of space when travelling. There are a number of rituals and events that need space. Moreover, the huge suitcases and baggage brought by the attendees need space of their own.

Booking a train coach for a wedding provides the feeling of togetherness and converts the travel into a celebration. From non-stop jokes to endless photo sessions, your train coach no longer remains a mere travel option but an extension of your wedding ceremony.

Booking a Train Coach for a Wedding

Now that we have discussed the reasons why people book a train coach for weddings, it is time to actually book one.

Prerequisites of a Train Coach booking

Before booking a Train Coach for a wedding, you need to have certain entities with you. These are:

1. Confirmed date of travel and train route
2. Number of coaches to be booked.
3. A valid Identification document
4. Access to either the FTR portal or a UTS Counter at the station of departure.

The FTR System:

The Full Tariff Rate (FTR) System allows individuals or groups to book an entire train or specific coaches on an Indian Train. This service is provided by IRCTC.

Western Railways Pilot:

The online booking of Indian trains or certain coaches using the FTR system, is available only as a Pilot project. Only Western Railways has adopted this pilot scheme.

To make a booking at other regions of Indian Railways, people can visit the UTS Counter available at the Train’s starting station. 

Booking Period:

Users can make the booking 6 months before the date of departure. Booking continues until 30 days before the departure. 

Booking process:

Users can make the booking of a train or entire train coach(es) using two methods provided by the Indian Railways. These are:

• Registration via FTR IRCTC website: 

Adhere to the following steps for ticket booking using FTR IRCTC website:

1. Visit FTR website and Log In.
2. Provide booking type, journeys details and coaches. Booking type here means whether you want to select an entire train or selected coaches. Journey details include the date of travel, station and the number of passengers. You can also pick the coach, i.e., AC, Sleeper, etc.
3. After entering these details you would be given a reference number and an amount that needs to be paid.
4. Pay the registration amount in 6 days from the date of receiving the reference number. If not done within this time limit, the registration process up till now will be terminated automatically and new registration needs to be made.
5. Once the payment is completed, an FTR number confirming the booking is provided. 

• Registration via (Unreserved Ticketing System) UTS Counter:

You can complete the registration by visiting the UTS Counter at the train’s starting station as well. Just follow these steps:

1. Visit the Chief Booking Supervisor (CBS) or Station master (SM) with your travel details for FTR booking. 
2. CBS will enter the travel details into the FTR System and provide you with a system generated slip. This slip contains a reference number and the amount that needs to be paid by you. 
3. You can take this slip to the UTS counter and pay the registration amount on the provided reference number.
4. After the confirmation of the payment, you would be provided a payment slip containing your unique FTR Number. 
5. You can then visit the CBS with this FTR Number. You would be provided with a printed copy of your request details. 

Number of Coaches:

You can choose from the two available options, i.e., Coach Booking or Train Booking.

Coach Booking: One can book up to 10 coaches against a single tour programme.

Train Booking: One can book a maximum number of 24 coaches while the minimum number of coaches is set at 18. This includes 2 mandatory SLR (Seating Cum Luggage Rake) coaches. SLR Coaches are special coaches placed at the front and rear end of trains which accommodate the Train Guard along with their equipment.

Even if you want to book Coaches fewer than 18, you would have to pay the full price for 18 coaches.

Registration Charges:

Coach Booking: For a booking period of 7 days, the charges levied per coach is fixed at ₹50,000. Beyond the prescribed time of 7 days, ₹10,000 per day per coach needs to be deposited.

Train Booking: For the booking of 18 coaches for a period of 7 days, an amount of ₹ 9,00,000 would be levied. Every additional coach for the same duration of 7 days would cost an extra ₹50,000. For a period extending beyond 7 days, ₹10,000 per day per coach would be charged. 

Tips for booking a Train coach

Booking a train coach for a wedding requires meticulous planning. Here are some final tips for you booking that can further simplify you journey and enhance the travel experience: 

1. Book early: For a problem free journey try to book as early as possible. There is a huge rush during the Wedding season hence it is better to book early. 
2. Prepare the list of passengers: Prepare the list of attendees that are going to board the train. Having this information beforehand helps in booking the right number of coaches.
3. Monitor your luggage carefully: With attendees bringing Designer clothes, Gifts and other essential items, luggages and bags could pile up fast. Plan this carefully to avoid chaos and confusion.
4. Opt for Group Food Ordering: Do not place individual food orders as it would be a costly affair. Instead you can use RailRestro’s Group Order service to get food on trains at highly discounted rates. Apart from this you can also opt for customization of your food items at the RailRestro platform.
5. Look for updated Train Timings: You can look for your live train timings including the live location using theLive Train Running Status service. You can avail this service in the Rail Tools drop down button at RailRestro.com.

Conclusion

Booking an entire train or multiple coaches is significantly simplified with the FTR portal brought to us by IRCTC. With this service we can have this once in a lifetime experience where all of the people who are close to us travel together. 

The jokes, the laughter and the taunts of a wedding family bloom when travelling together. With the family travelling together by train, the wedding celebration begins long before reaching the destination of the wedding.

So what are you waiting for? Prolong your festive wedding experience and book your train coach now. 

FAQs for Train Coach Booking

Q. Is it possible to book an entire train coach with the Indian Railways?

Ans: Yes, it is possible to book an entire coach with the Indian Railways. IRCTC provides a dedicated platform called Full Tariff Rate (FTR) System to book a single train coach, multiple train coaches and even a full train.

Q. What is the price of booking an entire coach in Indian Railways?

Ans: The charge for a single coach booking for a period of 7 days is ₹50,000. Booking a full train with 18 coaches for a duration of 7 days costs ₹9,00,000. For any booking beyond the 7 days period ₹10,000 would be levied per day per coach.