NEW DELHI: The Railways is set to roll out the beta version of the revamped IRCTC website on 15 July. Ahead of the launch, officials from IRCTC and the Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS) on Friday demonstrated the beta version to students of Malaviya National Institute of Technology (MNIT), Jaipur, seeking their feedback to further improve the platform's user experience before its public release.
According to official information shared with the media on Friday, the interaction follows concerns raised a few weeks ago by MNIT Jaipur students, who had highlighted shortcomings in the existing IRCTC website to Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw. The minister had assured them that the portal would be revamped by July 15.
Officials said the redesigned IRCTC website is currently being integrated with Indian Railways' Passenger Reservation System (PRS). They added that as the reservation engine itself is also undergoing a major overhaul, the fully functional version of the new IRCTC portal is expected to be available within the next few months. Given that the MNIT students had earlier flagged issues with the existing website, railway officials invited them to review the beta version of the revamped portal in Jaipur before its launch.
According to an official source, the beta version incorporates four key improvements aimed at making ticket booking simpler and more seamless. These include the removal of unnecessary captchas during the booking process, the elimination of unnecessary pop-ups, and a cleaner interface free from flashing graphics and other distracting elements. One of the most significant additions is the ability to view seat availability across all classes on a single screen.
The new website is also expected to offer a faster checkout process by reducing the number of steps required to complete a ticket booking. Another planned feature is easier repeat bookings through saved passenger details.
The railway sources further said, “In parallel, we are revamping the four decades old Passenger Reservation engine that powers the various train booking apps. This required extensive work, because the system had to be operated throughout this journey of upgradation. We will launch the new Passenger Reservation engine very soon”.
Railway sources further added that the RailOne app has now crossed 4 crore downloads and has become the largest railway ticket booking app with all railway services available at one stop on it.
Sources also said that several measures have also been introduced to curb the use of bots during
Tatkal bookings. “Still it is a continuous fight. There is a some improvement; however we need to make more efforts. We will keep our efforts on," railway officials said thanking the MNIT students for their feedback.