New Delhi September 14 2013: Indian Railway Catering & Tourism Corporation Ltd. (IRCTC), in collaboration with Microsoft, has launched a new application (App) for Windows Phone and Windows 8 devices which allows them to book tickets  direct from their portable devices.  The app was launched on Thursday by Rakesh Tandon, Chairman and Managing Director, IRCTC along with  Joseph Landes, Microsoft's General Manager – Developer and Platform Evangelism,
Users of Windows Phone, Windows 8 Desktop/Tab can download  the free app here.

Using this new app one can plan a trip, make railway reservations, check the PNR status and perform all the tasks already available on the IRCTC web site. It will be available throughout the day excepting 0800 – 1200 hrs and 2330 – 0030 hrs. New features include Visual maps of train routes, Windows Phone live tiles (lighting up as train tickets) and access to saved traveler profiles from multiple devices are just a few to mention. 

Also thro SMS:  IRCTC has also announced  that customers can book tickets even without an Internet connection on their mobile phones -- by using the SMS feature. Airtel customers can  pay through Airtel Money, others can  use the MPay feature of their banks. More details here