Nagapattinam (Tamil Nadu) [India], June 14 (ANI): Indian Railways is set to significantly upgrade its passenger reservation system, increasing ticket booking capacity from 32,000 to 1.5 lakh tickets per minute as part of a major digital overhaul aimed at improving efficiency and reducing server failures during peak booking hours.
This comes after Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Thursday announced that a new, improved website of IRCTC will be launched by July 15 of this year after some students complained to the Union Minister about the IRCTC website and the inconveniences they faced while booking tickets during an event in Rajasthan.
Speaking to ANI on Sunday at Nagore Railway Station in Nagapattinam district, MGFA Syed Jafar Ali, Member of the Zonal Railway Users’ Consultative Committee (ZRUCC), Southern Railway, welcomed the Indian Railways’ decision to upgrade its passenger reservation system, calling it a major step towards improving passenger convenience.
“Will significantly improve ticket booking efficiency, reduce server failures during peak hours,” Jafar Ali said while highlighting the benefits of the IRCTC modernisation plan.
He further stated that Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has announced that a revamped and upgraded IRCTC website will be launched by July 15, 2026. He added that the move came after concerns were raised by a student during an interaction programme regarding issues with the existing system, including a cumbersome CAPTCHA process and rapid exhaustion of tickets during booking periods.
Jafar Ali further noted that the Railway Minister immediately took note of the concerns and directed officials to comprehensively overhaul the digital ticketing platform.
“Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) is being upgraded as Indian Railways replaces its 40-year-old Passenger Reservation System (PRS) with a modern cloud-based system,” he told ANI.
The upgraded infrastructure, to be rolled out in phases from August, will increase booking capacity from 32,000 tickets per minute to 1.5 lakh tickets per minute.
He further said the new system will integrate Artificial Intelligence-based tools to offer waitlist prediction accuracy of up to 94 per cent.
Jafar Ali added that the enhancement would significantly reduce server crashes during high-demand booking windows such as Tatkal, ensuring a smoother and more reliable ticket booking experience for passengers. (ANI)