Booking train tickets is set to become significantly faster and more convenient as the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) prepares to launch a revamped version of its website on July 15.
The upgrade is aimed at addressing long-standing user complaints about slow booking speeds, website congestion and interruptions during peak booking hours, especially during Tatkal bookings.
Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw announced the overhaul on June 11 after students raised concerns about the existing portal's performance, including delays caused by CAPTCHA verification and heavy traffic.
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The new platform has been redesigned to offer a cleaner interface, faster navigation and a smoother booking experience.
One of the biggest upgrades is a sharp increase in booking capacity. The current system processes around 32,000 ticket bookings per minute, while the revamped platform is expected to handle more than 1.5 lakh bookings per minute, according to an Economic Times report published on June 12.
Its enquiry handling capacity will also increase from around 4 lakh to over 40 lakh enquiries per minute, reducing the chances of slowdowns during periods of heavy demand.
Passengers can also expect several new features aimed at simplifying bookings. The revamped portal will introduce a fare calendar that allows users to compare ticket prices across different travel dates. Travellers will also be able to select their preferred seats during the booking process.
The website will support multiple Indian languages, making it more accessible to users across the country. In addition, services for Divyangjan passengers, students and patients will be integrated into a single platform.
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Another major change is the reduction of unnecessary CAPTCHA prompts, pop-ups and flashing graphics that often slow down the booking process.
These improvements are expected to make Tatkal bookings faster and more seamless, when every second counts. Reports have also suggested that the revamped platform could introduce mobile-based authentication to simplify user verification.
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