IRCTC ticket booking made easy: How to book train tickets using Google Pay without IRCTC app or website

IRCTC (Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation) is on a constant quest to improve its online ticket booking experience for users and its website has come a long way since its early days. Despite having its app and website presence, users often complain that IRCTC's online ticket booking system is slow and at times inaccessible to users due to various reasons. Most of the recent IRCTC app ratings and reviews we read on Google Play Store were primarily about the poor experience users sometimes have to face while booking train tickets online. See the screenshot below:

Now, Google Pay UPI payment app is making IRCTC's online train ticket booking experience easier! All you need is IRCTC account active Google Pay account! We show you how to purchase train tickets using Google pay without IRCTC app or website.

If you are a new user, sign-up for IRCTC

In case you don't have an IRCTC account, we recommend you should first sign up for an IRCTC individual account by submitting all the necessary details on the IRCTC website and then come back here later. Go to IRCTC website, fill in the details and you are done! But the reason you might want to know how to book train tickets on Google Pay without IRCTC app or website is itself an indication that you probably have an IRCTC account and you might be looking for an alternative to the traditional online train ticket booking using IRCTC app or website.

How to book IRCTC train tickets on Google Pay

Now, install Google Pay (previously Google Tez) on your smartphone and register yourself on Google Pay to be able to send and receive money over UPI. Once you have successfully registered with Google Pay, follow the steps below:

Open Google Pay app on your smartphone, scroll down and locate the option called 'Trains.' Tap the button 'Book train tickets.'

Now, enter your 'source' and 'destination' railway stations to search for the trains — select departure date and Quota.

Select your preferred train from the list. Now, choose your train's preferred class (SL, 2A, 3A etc.) Now comes the important part.

You have to enter your valid IRCTC account username.

Fill in the passenger details like name, age, gender, birth preference, etc. You can add multiple passengers. Tap 'Continue.'

Review your trip. You can edit the information you have provided so far on this page. Tap 'Continue.'

Now, tap the option 'Proceed to Pay.' Interestingly, it also lets users pay using other UPI payment app. By default, Google Pay app redirected me to WhatsApp Payments option, presumably because I had WhatsApp installed on my phone.

Enter your UPI pin and voila! That's it! You will receive a ticket booking confirmation on the mobile number you provided.