Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has announced that a revamped IRCTC website will be launched by July 15, aiming to enhance the online ticket booking experience for passengers. The announcement came after students raised concerns about difficulties faced while booking train tickets during an event at MNIT Jaipur in Rajasthan.

One student specifically pointed to the inconvenience caused by the website's CAPTCHA verification process. The upgraded platform is expected to deliver faster ticket bookings, improved navigation, and a range of new passenger-friendly features.

The most important upgrade is a substancial increase in ticket booking capacity. At present the system can process around 32,000 ticket bookings per minute. The new website will be capable of handling more than 1.5 lakh bookings per minute, as per a report.    

The upgraded Passenger Reservation System (PRS) will also significantly boost enquiry handling capacity from the current four lakh enquiries per minute to over 40 lakh enquiries per minute, enabling faster searches and a smoother booking experience.

According to the report, the new platform will introduce several passenger-friendly features, including:

The ability to select preferred seat options while booking.

A fare calendar that allows users to compare ticket prices across different travel dates.

Multilingual support to improve accessibility for passengers across India.

Integrated services for Divyangjan, students and patients through a single platform.

Another news report revealed that the redesigned website will feature a cleaner interface by removing unnecessary pop-ups, distracting animations and reducing the use of CAPTCHAs, making the booking process—particularly for Tatkal tickets—quicker and more seamless.

The upgraded platform will also display seat availability across all travel classes, including Sleeper, AC 3 Tier and AC 2 Tier, on a single screen, eliminating the need for passengers to check each class separately.