Indian Railways has taken a huge step forward to improve the online ticket booking experience by introducing a completely redesigned and significantly faster IRCTC ticket booking platform. The new website has been brought to the market by the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) to tackle one of the most common frustrations of railway passengers: slow website performance and booking failures during peak hours, especially during Tatkal ticket booking windows.
For years, millions of travellers have faced website crashes, payment challenges, and long lines to get train tickets during the very competitive Tatkal booking period. We have built a platform with state-of-the-art technology and better infrastructure for ticket booking that is easy to deal with for high traffic and fast ticket booking.
The biggest improvement of the new platform is the booking capacity. The previous system could easily handle 32,000 ticket bookings per minute in the past. Now, with the new infrastructure, the platform can take in more than 1.5 lakh ticket bookings per minute; that is a huge improvement. This will reduce the wait times and improve the overall booking experience for passengers in the country.
The Passenger Reservation System (PRS) backend has also been upgraded. Before the redesign, the system could process about 4 lakh seat availability searches per minute. Now, even during peak booking times, the new system can process more than 40 lakh seat availability searches per minute, so users can track train schedules, seat availability, and ticket status without experiencing website slowdowns.
In addition to speed improvements, IRCTC has introduced a number of passenger-friendly features for train ticket booking. The most eagerly awaited feature is seat selection. Like airline ticket booking services, passengers will be able to access the list of available seats and choose their berth or seat from it. Seat allocation in the past was all automated, and passengers had no control over their seats.
The platform also has a single-screen availability display so users can view seat availability in different travel classes without switching between multiple tabs. Passengers can now view Sleeper Class, AC 3-Tier, AC 2-Tier, and other class availability on one screen, so comparisons are much easier.
Another useful addition is the Fare Calendar feature, which allows travellers with flexible travel plans to compare ticket prices and seat availability across multiple dates. This feature can help passengers identify the most affordable travel dates and improve their chances of getting confirmed tickets.
IRCTC has also eliminated many common irritants that users often complain about. The number of pop-ups, distracting banner advertisements, and CAPTCHA verifications has also been reduced, creating a cleaner booking environment.
To improve accessibility to users, the new website makes access to regional Indian languages (Kannada and several more) easier. It will be a boon to the millions of people who prefer to use digital services in their native language.
The platform also provides support for students, people with disabilities, and patients suffering from serious illnesses through which to apply for and obtain concession tickets by themselves in the digital portal without several office visits.
The launch of the upgraded website is part of Indian Railways’ broader digital transformation plan. IRCTC is also working on a full super app that will integrate ticket booking, live train tracking, PNR status checking, food ordering, and other railway-related services into one platform, the report said.
As the festive travel season brings on fierce competition for train tickets, the new IRCTC website promises a quicker, more reliable, and more convenient booking process for passengers. For millions of Indian travellers, this digital upgrade could mark the beginning of a new era in railway ticketing, making train travel planning simpler and more efficient than ever before.
