The Indian Railways is revamping its passenger reservation system (PRS) which will increase the ticket booking capacity five-fold and allow easier handling of ticket-related enquiries.
Under the upgraded system, which will be launched in December 2025, the railways will be able to process 150,000 ticket bookings per minute, up from 32,000 bookings in the current system. Similarly, the ticket enquiry capacity will also rise from 400,000 enquiries per minute to over 4 million enquiries per minute under the new PRS.
“In the new PRS, users will be able to submit their choice of seat and see the fare calendar. The project is being executed for the last few months by CRIS (Centre for Railway Information System),” the railways ministry said in a statement on Sunday.
Besides this, the railways is working on a modified reservation chart system wherein the reservation chart will be prepared 8 hours before the departure of the train as against the current schedule of four hours. In some cases, the reservation chart will be prepared well in advance. For instance, for trains departing before 1400 hours on a given day, the chart will be prepared the previous day at 2100 hours, the statement said.
Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has directed the railways board to start implementing the new charting system in phases which will reduce uncertainties for passengers with waitlist tickets.
Early this month, the transporter had made Aadhaar-based authentication mandatory for Tatkal ticket bookings on IRCTC website and mobile application from July 1.
In addition, for booking Tatkal tickets at railway counters and through authorised agents, passengers will have to mandatorily authenticate their bookings via one-time password (OTP) beginning July 15.
“The railway minister has recently reviewed the progress of these reforms. He emphasised that the ticketing system should be smart, transparent, accessible, and efficient. The system must ensure a smooth and comfortable travel experience to our passengers,” the statement said.