New Delhi: The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) will launch a revamped version of its ticket booking website on July 15, introducing faster processing, improved features and a more user-friendly experience for railway passengers.
Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw announced the launch during an event in Rajasthan after students raised concerns about the difficulties faced while booking train tickets through the existing IRCTC portal.
The upgraded platform has been designed to significantly improve booking speed and system performance. According to the Railways, the new website will be capable of processing more than 1.5 lakh ticket bookings per minute, a major increase from the current capacity of around 32,000 bookings per minute.
The Passenger Reservation System (PRS) has also been enhanced to handle over 40 lakh enquiries every minute, compared to the existing capacity of nearly 4 lakh enquiries. The improved infrastructure is expected to minimise delays and deliver faster responses, particularly during high-demand periods such as Tatkal ticket bookings.
The revamped portal introduces several passenger-friendly features. Users will be able to select their preferred seats while booking tickets, and a new fare calendar will allow travellers to compare ticket prices across different dates before confirming their journey.
To improve accessibility, the website will support multiple Indian languages and provide integrated booking services for Divyangjan, students and patients through a single platform, making it easier to avail special reservation facilities.
The redesigned interface has also been simplified by removing unnecessary pop-up windows, distracting graphics and excessive CAPTCHA prompts, ensuring a smoother and quicker booking experience.
Another major addition is a unified seat availability display. Instead of checking availability separately for Sleeper, AC 3 Tier, AC 2 Tier and other travel classes, passengers will be able to view seat availability across all classes on a single screen, enabling easier comparison and faster ticket selection.
The latest upgrade is expected to make the IRCTC platform more efficient, especially during peak booking hours, while improving convenience for millions of railway passengers across the country.
With inputs from IANS