Indian Railways update: Waiting time for ticket booking to reduce. All about IRCTC’s ticketing system

The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) is set to enhance its ticketing system and reduce waiting times for its passengers. As per media reports, the upgrade has already started this process and aims to be completed by March 2025.

Following the implementation of this new step, passengers will be able to book tickets online without experiencing any waiting time after clicking to confirm, the report added. The report further stated that IRCTC will work to prevent issues where payments are deducted, but tickets are not issued.

Speaking on why such issues occure, IRCTC Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) Sanjay Jain explained that these problems occur due to the limited capacity of the current system. The high volume of passengers booking tickets online exceeds the system's capacity, leading to these challenges.

The report mentioned that IRCTC has approximately three crore users, with more than nine lakh tickets being booked online daily, covering both passenger and agent bookings. It also highlighted that over two crore passengers travel by train each day.

Earlier in 2023, the railways had planned to upgrade its capacity of issuing tickets from 25,000 to 2.25 lakh per minute and attending to enquiries from 40,000 to 4 lakh per minute.

In another report, the IRCTC and the National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC) have joined forces to promote the 'One India - One Ticket' initiative, which aims to enhance the travel experience for passengers on both main line railway and Namo Bharat trains. This collaboration seeks to offer a seamless travel solution, allowing passengers to easily book and travel using both Indian Railways and RRTS services.

As part of this initiative, after booking an IRCTC train e-ticket, users can now choose to book Namo Bharat train tickets for up to eight travelers per booking as an add-on service. The RRTS booking option will appear on the PNR confirmation page and will also be accessible from the user's train ticket booking history.

(With inputs from agencies)