RailYatri cash is a RailYatri currency that is added in the Wallet through our various cash back offers. Cash backs are credited to your wallet, when you have availed any of our e-commerce services (such as Food, Bus or hotel booking services). With the RY cash, deposited in your wallet, you can make future purchases.

NOTE: Cashback recieved against any offer cannot be used for Train Ticket booking.

No, you cannot use this cash outside the RailYatri eco-system. The cash is supported for only the purchase of services available through RailYatri app.

RailYatri Reward points are provided to users when they contribute to the RailYatri community through their information or suggestion. We believe in gathering and accumulating crowd-sourced information for easing existing information-lags in train travel. Reward Points are our token of gratitude towards each user helping us attain that goal and making the app better.

It is simple, just be an active RailYatri user. You can earn Reward Points by passing us information regarding train travel and giving feedbacks regarding the app. Such information in the long run would help millions of train travellers. It will also help us provide better services to users.

NOTE: Points are only added after they are verified by our experts.

Reward points shown in the RailYatri app can be redeemed through purchases made in the Travel Store. They will give you significant discounts on our exciting range of travel products. They cannot be redeemed for any other e-commerce purchases.

RailYatri Cash, earned through our cash back offers, can only be used for e-commerce purchases (such as food, hotel or bus booking and not in train ticket booking), while Reward Points earned through your contribution to RailYatri Community, can be redeemed on purchases done only at Travel Store.

We can trace a user’s profile and the reward points associated with it through the email ID stated while installing the app. So, if you are re-installing the RailYatri app, make sure to use the same email ID as mentioned before. When you do so, we will be able to track the past reward points and reflect that in your app.

The Seat Availability feature helps in making the entire train travel easier and convenient. All that our users have to do is enter the Train number, the source and destination, the class and quota accompanied by the date of Journey. The app will tell the number of seats available for the waitlisted tickets and the chances of getting the confirmed tickets for the train they have desired.

Seat Availability forecasts the best train to take from the user’s source to the destination. It assist the user compare train schedules and make informed bookings on waitlisted tickets by checking the confirmation history on that train.

Seat Availability feature apprise the user about the number of tickets available in their desired train whereas the Confirmation Probability feature allows the user to select the train which has the highest probability of getting a confirmed ticket.

If the user is not being able to get the details of Seat Available in the desired train, there may be two reasons for it.

• Lower version of the app: User is still using the lower version of the app. Get the latest version from the Playstore and get the desired results for Seat Availability.
• Server error: You have an updated app but not being able to check the Seat Availability? Then it is certainly the server issue which we are looking forward to resolve.

Many users have written to us saying that they are not able to see the exact location of their train. The data they get is hours old. If you are searching for the Live Train status, without boarding the train then you will have to rely on last updated data. This data may be hours old. When we are unable to provide current train location we display the last updated time on app. You can get the exact live train status only if someone sitting within the train has allowed us to track exact location of the train.

You may see old live train data even when you are on the train. We can tell exact train location depending only on your GPS data. If the GPS feature is not turned on, we are bound to show you last updated train status, from where the train might have moved a long distance forward.

The simple way to know the accurate train running status and its location is to use our GPS Locator feature. It will allow us to track your exact location and show the upcoming stations, delay and other facts important for your route. The GPS data you provide us will make sure everyone searching for the live train status gets 90% accurate update. To use the GPS locator feature for current train location, use the following steps:

• Visit the Settings section of your device.
• Find Location Services.
• Turn on GPS Services
• Now open the RailYatri app and tap on “Live Train Status”
• Enter train name or number and tap on “I’m on this Train”
• Current train location would be diagnosed by our “GPS Locator”

There are instances when users have to suffer this annoying message. But it is not our fault. There are certain belts along each train route where the Internet connectivity is either unavailable or very poor. In such situations, we are not able to fetch your GPS data resulting in the error message. But as user, so far you had no way to know about the network status. We have solved this issue in our latest version. In this version we have included a special feature known as “GPS Testing Utility”. With this feature, as soon as you turn on the GPS we will rate your GPS connectivity, Network connectivity, Location Source and Accuracy of Source as Good, Bad and Poor.

RailYatri’s model for live updates is crowd sourced data, so turn on your GPS feature next time you board a train and help us track your location accurately.

Before we delve into describing what is RailWisdom™ - let us delve into some of the hypothesis we have considered -

Hypothesis No. 1: Discovery of real/helpful local travel information today is more driven by luck/chance.

We believe that travel in India (and especially on a network like Indian Railways) entails useful knowledge which exists in the minds of travelers who have made it to a ‘place’ or used a ‘train’ or traversed a ‘route’ before. This knowledge till date exists in pockets/pieces and the discovery of it is more driven by chance (or by luck as some may want to refer to).

Hypothesis No. 2: Every real traveler has discovered/knows something special and unique .

We believe that in each of us (aka – Yatri/Traveler) lives a way of knowing something special and unique information related to travel – and sometimes highly localized too – which exceeds far much than what exists in Travel Guides or Wikipedias of the World.

Hypothesis No. 3: Human Psychology makes travel insights filled with biases.

We believe that thoughts of an individual can be limited, biased, or extreme. The acceptance of these individual thoughts by others requires an aggregation, contextualization, and identifying it with the whole picture – thus creating an unbiased collective intelligence/wisdom.

Hypothesis No. 4: Travel-related information exists everywhere. Key is to know if someone has used it.

We believe that today’s travelers need both knowledge and wisdom. It is not just about knowing something special about a travel – but it is also about the experiences of someone who acted upon that knowledge. An accumulation of knowledge that comes reinforced with experience becomes Wisdom.

Hypothesis no. 5: Volume of travel content has grown exponentially – however travelers today deal in bits and bytes. Lack of context to this information makes it meaningless too.

We believe that the sheer volume of travel information available to us through channels such as Search Engines, Knowledge-pedias, etc. is becoming overwhelming. Lack of this information’s association to the context of travel tends to override its value or certain times become meaningless.

Considering the above, RailWisdom™ is an enabler where

• Travelers share their knowledge and experience in the format of dos, don’ts, and didyou-know type Wisdom specifically associated with travel in India.
• Individual Wisdom gets aggregated with similar Wisdom received from other experienced travelers and gets associated with more than 8000 locations in India.
• Other travelers can extract this Wisdom contextualized to their travel route plan using popular technology mediums such as Mobiles, Maps, etc.

Our goal is to keep this Wisdom collection, aggregation, and distribution process in RailWisdom™ simple and tailored to the traveler’s needs. Our goal is not to overload the traveler with information barrage but provide short, succinct, and actionable wisdom which is contextualized to their location of interest. The underlying technology platform and support to RailWisdom™ is provided by RailYatri.in

For anyone who has traveled in India (especially using the Indian Railways network) know about the variability associated with each and every town/station/train in India. We do not have the uniform structure/facility/accessibility at our railway stations; or the uniform Yellow Cabs™ waiting outside our stations; or the same uniform McDonalds™ or Pizza Hut™ located in each and every of our towns.

Such variability brings in complexity from a traveler’s perspective; however also adds to the charm/expectations of the unexplored town or taking a new train. We believe that travelers are keen to know and be ready to experience these diversities. Variations also bring in possibilities. And these possibilities are sometimes best explained through the experiences of other travelers. We refer to such experiences as “Wisdom”.

RailWisdom™ is a collection of travel wisdom provided by the people by virtue of their experiences and delivered to other travelers using a technology medium (maps, mobile, etc.) in a location sensitive and contextualized manner.

As a traveler, you can use RailWisdom™ in two ways.

• If you have already traveled (possibly to a town, city, village in India or have used certain specific trains, etc.), you might have known or experienced something interesting or valuable or have suggestions about what other fellow travelers should do or not do. Share the same using RailWisdom™. Remember travelers might find your tips worth gold.
• If you plan to travel – we suggest that that you check out RailWisdom™ regularly to find tips and what others have to say specific to your start/end location or your route of travel. If you are taking a specific train, you will find Wisdom related to that too. RailWisdom™ allows you to simply fetch Wisdom associated with a specific location or aggregate collection of wisdom contextualized to your specific route (e.g. Delhi to Nagpur with Kerala Express)

In both scenarios – you can also use RailWisdom™ to amplify or correct existing Wisdom from other fellow travelers based on your experience too.

The basic definition of Wisdom in the context of travel is knowledge gained through experience – something which others can make use of. We would like to believe that the value of Wisdom lies in the eyes of the beholder. For example, the Wisdom about booking a retiring room at the station when stranded for a delayed train can be enormous.

Here is what we have been recommending to Travelers who have added the Wisdom which are available on the site as of date –

• The best way to get started is to read and scan various Wisdom which has been added by other travelers till date. They can become a great starting point to start getting ideas.
• Easiest to add would be something specific related to your town or its local railway station – something which you would like others to know.
• Consider the locations/routes/trains where you frequently travel to. We are sure that based on your regular experience – you do certain things repeatedly every time. For example - take the alternate gate to the station instead of the main gate; don’t depend on the ATMs at the station; eat at a specific spot regularly; be prepared for crowd or delays; etc. These are your wisdom! Add those to RailWisdom™ so that others who are in your situation can emulate you.
• You might have visited few places or used certain trains only once or twice. You can add your experiences as wisdom in such scenarios too.

Also – please read the FAQ related to meaning of various Wisdom categories. Once you add few Wisdom – you will get the hang of it.

To add Wisdom associated with a railway station, follow these steps.

• On the RailWisdom™ page, select the “Station” radio button and simply search for your station. You can search the station by its name or its station code.
• If the auto-search station select list displays multiple names, select the appropriate station. Upon proper selection of the station, the Wisdom text box along with categories check list will get highlighted (enabled)
• Add your Wisdom in the provided text box. Limit it to about 10-15 words or about 180 characters. Select the optional category tags which you think can correctly relate to your Wisdom.
• Submit by logging into Facebook. If you are first time user – you will have to go through a 2 step Facebook account acceptance step. If you are a repeat user and already are logged into Facebook, this will be a one-click submission process.

Once we receive the wisdom, we will review the same for its applicability and appropriateness. We will also review the same for editorial correctness. Once reviewed, accepted and published – you will receive a post on your Facebook wall.

You may also want to review the following FAQs which are related to this question –

• Why Facebook login and app-acceptance are required for Wisdom acceptance?
• Guidelines and Terms and Conditions associated with Wisdom.
• Copyright policies related to Wisdom

Wisdom related with a town needs to be associated with a railway station. This railway station could be the town specific or also can be one of the nearest station/railhead. Once you have determined the specific railway station, just follow the steps which are described in the question above.

Railway Stations in India are the main gateways for the more than 95% of travelers in India covering more than 80% of the country. Since the Wisdom on RailWisdom™ are targeted for travels in India – we believe associating the Wisdom of a city/town/village with its (or nearby) railway station would be the best way to add, collect or share the same. Also, our regular experience shows that majority of great things in a town are much closer to a railway station than possibly an airport.

Our belief is that if you have something important to share based on your travel experience, then that is good enough to be added as Wisdom. The value of your Wisdom will largely depend on the context of the reader who finds himself/herself in a situation like yours.

Our only pre-requisite for considering Wisdom is that it should have a long-term applicability and value. For example, news about a ‘bandh’ or temporary closures – while important from the traveler’s perspective – cannot be considered as wisdom because of its temporary value. However, a suggestion about the best way to get out of a railway station has a long term value and will be considered as Wisdom.

We expect your Wisdom length to be about 10-15 words or about 180 characters. Our belief is that keeping the Wisdom length shorter makes it succinct, to-the-point and actionable – something which most traveler desire today.

We are very interested in articulate Wisdom which we strongly believe can be helpful to at least one traveler out there. Our standards for acceptance are reflected in the Wisdom which are already published on RailWisdom™. We expect your Wisdom to follow those examples.

We expect that the Wisdom which you have gained from experience to be helpful to other traveler. For example – if you want to let others know about a great eating joint in a city, also tell your readers how to reach there from the railway station. If you want to warn others on a specific, also tell them what are the alternatives.

Few things which will not be tolerated in the form of Wisdom – personal attacks, obscenity, vulgarity, profanity (including expletives and letters followed by the dashes), self and commercial promotion, impersonations, incoherence, grievances, help-queries, religious and political overtones, etc.

Note that moderating decisions can be subjective. However, we will make them carefully and consistently as we can. We may occasionally choose to connect with you through your Facebook wall or email address for a follow-up question. RailYatri.in reserves the final rights on the decision associated with Wisdom.

Wisdom related with a location (town/city/village) is associated with a railway station. This railway station could be the town specific or also can be one of the nearest station/railhead. Once you have determined the specific railway station, on the RailWisdom™ page, select the radio button marked as “Station” and search for your station by its name or its station code. From the pre-populated select list which appears for your station, select the right station name. As you soon as you select the station, the map will automatically zoom to the location of the station. Clicking on the icon will open a new pop-up window on the map with all the Wisdom pertaining to that station.

On the RailWisdom™ page, select the radio button marked as “Train” and search for your train by its name or its train number. From the pre-populated select list which appears for your search criteria, select the right train. As you soon as you select the train, the route of the train will be plotted on the map. Click on the “start station” of the train, to see the Wisdom which has been added for this train.

First, reconfirm that you have the right attributes for your search. (either Station Name, Station Code, Train Name, or Train Number). There is also the possibility that no one has contributed anything till then for the Station or the Train. You can become the first to start adding new Wisdom for the same.

Anything and everything that can help a fellow traveler is considered Wisdom. We believe that allowing Wisdom to be added of limited categories only can be restrictive. However, categories are added for the ease of searching and filtering as and when needed.

The orange dots on the map represent the railway stations/cities for which at least one Wisdom has been added by a traveler.

Yes, the dots can get crowded in and around a specific area depending on the number of train station locations in that region. We recommend that you search for your station/town of interest directly using the Station Search functionality. If you are sure about the location of your town of interest, you can also do the same by zooming in or zooming out of the map (using the (+) or (-) icons)

Our copy editorial team frequently edits Wisdom text for correctness, comprehensibility, and making the text more search-friendly.

Your submitted Wisdom will go through a review, validation, and acceptance process which may take some time. Wisdom are typically posted faster during the business hours. Moderation can be less frequent in the evening and on weekends. However, if you need to get in touch with us, you can write to us at feedback [at] railyatri.in

It would be of great help for enhancing RailWisdom™ if you can point out such incorrect Wisdom. Simply click on “reply” image icon (seen on the bottom-right corner of the specific Wisdom); add your comments, and submit it. Note that a login using Facebook would be required for submitting a correction to existing Wisdom. We will review your Wisdom. Wisdom which is factually incorrect will be modified or removed. Wisdom which differs on subjective basis will not be modified and will remain attributed to the individual who added the same. We will leave it to the reader’s discretion to act upon a specific Wisdom.

RailWisdom™ Picks are a selection of Wisdom that are judged the most interesting and thoughtful from a traveler’s perspective. In some cases, RailWisdom™ Picks may be selected to highlight comments from a particular region or type or users with first-hand knowledge. Note that we may choose to highlight your name and credentials along with your Wisdom on various internet and mobile properties belonging to RailYatri.in. Wisdom with your name and location may also be used by media to highlight your Wisdom. However, we will not share your personal credentials beyond your name and location to third parties.

Requirement for Facebook login and app-acceptance are mandatory to add Wisdom for few reasons!

• First, to differentiate you from the robots and spammers who crawl across the internet so veraciously nowadays!
• Second, as we had mentioned in the earlier responses too, travelers like to trust and believe in Wisdoms which are shared with them by real people with real names.
• Third, your location (which is gathered from your Facebook account and displayed against your wisdom) gives a much better context to the Wisdom. For example, Wisdom about Chennai from a localite would be highly valued in comparison with similar Wisdom from a gentleman in Delhi. (Note that Delhiite can add Wisdom on Chennai also!)
• Lastly, any feedback on your contributed Wisdom will be communicated to you on your Facebook wall.

Please read the FAQ associated with RailYatri.in’s No-Spam Policy for Facebook.

Here is our Facebook No-Spam Policy –

• We will only post updates associated with your Wisdom to your wall.
• We will never message your friends. Only you can do that.
• We do not show up in your activity feed.
• If any of your friends need to be reached, we’ll ask you to send them a private message on Facebook. We will not do this automatically.
• We do not gather information of your friends. We have no way of contacting them, that must be done explicitly by you by sending a private Facebook message.

We have a separate section related to Facebook/Social Media policy in our Terms and Conditions page. Kindly refer to the same frequently, as the guidelines are subject to change.

Currently we are only allowing users with valid Facebook accounts to add Wisdom on the site.

For the sake of consistency, information associated with any business or services added as Wisdom will be considered as promotion and hence will not be accepted. Exceptions are taken when any business/shop are recommended by an independent individual who has used the services of the business. However, we also realize that location-specific promotions associated with services of certain businesses (Taxi Services, Hotels & Rooms, Restaurant, Guides, Travel Packages, Bookings, etc.) do turn out to be useful for travelers. Write to us on feedback [at] railyatri.in and we will guide you on business promotion/advertisement opportunities available on our site.

If you are using data/information from RailWisdom™ which would be used in a reporting or an article – our PR group would love to hear from you. You can write to us at feedback [at] railyatri.in. We would be happy to share additional information with you and may be also help you with additional insights. Screenshots from RailWisdom™ can be used for free. In a regular manner, we would like the information gathered from RailWisdom™ to be attributed/ referenced to us. We would not acknowledge the validity of information/data which has not been socialized with our PR group