NEW DELHI: In a significant development, Indian Railways has proposed to prepare and release the reservation chart eight hours before a train’s departure, replacing the current practice of releasing the chart four hours before departure.
This new timeline is expected to come into effect from 1st July this year.
The decision follows a series of meetings between railway officials and Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, aimed at improving convenience for passengers, particularly those holding waitlisted tickets.
Confirming the development to this newspaper, a senior railway official said on Sunday, “To improve your travel uncertainty, Railway Ministry has proposed the new time frame to release the reservation chart, the most likely to be implemented by July 1 or a few days later due to competing of some technical modification in system”.
The official further added that the Railways is taking a number of steps to streamline the ticket booking process.
Minister Vaishnaw has been reviewing the progress of these reforms closely, reiterating during every meeting that the ticketing system should be smart, transparent, accessible, and efficient.
“Currently, the reservation chart is prepared four hours before the departure of the train. This creates uncertainty in the minds of passengers. Wherever passengers are coming from a nearby area to catch the train, this uncertainty can cause serious problems,” remarked the railway official.
Further elaborating, the official added, “To end on waitlisted tickets and their expected confirmations of berths, the Railway board has proposed preparing the reservation chart eight hours before the departure. The Railway Minister has agreed with the proposal and directed the Board to start implementing it in phases so that there is no disruption."
To further enhance berth availability, Indian Railways has also introduced a policy -- capping the number of waitlisted tickets to a maximum of 25 per cent of total berths in each class.
“And, the latest decision to prepare chart 8 hours before the train departure will reduce uncertainties for passengers with waitlist tickets to a great extent,” he added.
With the new system in place, passengers will receive the first update on their waitlist status well in advance.
“The most important benefit of the early chart release system will be to the passengers travelling from remote locations or suburbs of major cities to catch long-distance trains. It will also provide more time to make alternative arrangements in case the wait list is not confirmed,” a senior railway official added.
In parallel, Indian Railways has begun upgrading its Passenger Reservation System (PRS), with completion targeted for December 2025. The upgraded PRS will be capable of handling over 1.5 lakh ticket bookings per minute—a nearly fivefold increase from the current 32,000 tickets per minute.
Ticket enquiry capacity will also be enhanced tenfold, from 4 lakh to over 40 lakh enquiries per minute. Highlighting key features of the new PRS, a senior official said it will offer a multilingual and user-friendly booking and enquiry interface.
“In the new PRS, users will be able to submit their choice of seat and see the fare calendar. It also has integrated facilities for Divyangjan, students and patients,” said the railway sources.
The Indian Railways will also introduce mandatory authentication for Tatkal bookings via the IRCTC website and mobile app starting 1st July 2025. OTP-based authentication will be implemented by the end of July 2025.
Railway Minister Vaishnaw has directed officials to broaden the authentication mechanism, stating it should be completed using Aadhaar or any other verifiable government ID available in a user’s DigiLocker account.