IRCTC 16 Important Features Of The Upgraded Websites
IRCTC 16 Important Features Of The Upgraded Websites
Indian Railway launches upgraded e-Ticketing Website & Mobile App for booking of online Railway Tickets
Website & App, offering “Best-in-class” features, has been launched by Hon’ble Minister of Railways and Commerce & Industry and Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, Shri. Piyush Goyal today
New Year gift to the passengers
Novel user personalization features linked to user login incorporated for the first time ever
Minister lauds the contribution of Rail Parivar in ensuring a Victories fight back against the challenges posed by Corona and making railways Future Ready. Efforts by IRCTC in the same direction
IRCTC should focus on Customer needs and work towards further improving the web site and ensure that is second to none in the world as per the digital India mission and vision of PM – Shri Piyush Goyal
The booking of meals, retiring rooms and hotels has been integrated and can be directly along with the tickets
Predictive entry suggestions using Artificial Intelligence to be given to the passenger
Simpler checking of the refund status at the user accounts page
Regular’ or ‘Favorite’ journeys can be booked easily by automatically entering relevant details
Train search & selection simplified by putting the information on one page to reduce the time used by passengers and enhancing the booking experience
All information on one page
Availability for all class are displayed along with respective fares for all trains. Simply scroll the page and choose to ‘Book’ the desired train and class
Earlier each train seat availability and fares could be seen only after clicking on that train individually
Following the vision of ‘Digital India’ of Hon’ble Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, Indian Railways has revamped & upgraded its e-ticketing website www.irctc.co.in and IRCTC Rail Connect Mobile App, which are used for booking of Railway tickets ‘online’.
The Upgraded e-ticketing Website & App, offering “Best-in-class” features, has been launched by Hon’ble Minister of Railways and Commerce & Industry and Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, Shri. Piyush Goyal today on 31st December, 2020. This will be a New Year gift by the Railways to all passengers.
Speaking on the occasion, he said “The Railways is committed to serving the nation, and constantly working to augment its services to further improve the rail travel experience. This Upgraded e-ticketing platform for booking of online Railway tickets, will enhance passenger convenience. “ He said that IRCTC should continue to work towards constantly improve the web site and ensure that is second to none in the world as per the digital India mission and vision of PM.
1. e-Ticketing services for booking of Indian Railway Tickets:
In 2014, the Next Generation E-ticketing (NGeT) system was launched to provide seamless e-ticketing services – higher booking loads and better user interface, through IRCTC. The upgraded e-ticketing website & App will provide the next level of services and experience to the rail users.
2. Customer experience has been the focus for revamping the features:
The railway customer has been focus of the design of this new world class website for booking of rail tickets. Novel user personalization features linked to user log in, have been incorporated for the first time ever, along with customizations for seamless travel experience, one stop train selection for booking, and integrated booking for meals & accommodation with tickets.
Salient Features of the Upgraded website:
3. Complete User personalization linked to the user login, such as
4. The booking of meals, retiring rooms and hotels has been integrated and can be directly along with the tickets, thus providing a one stop solution for the needs of the traveller.
5. Predictive entry suggestions using Artificial Intelligence to be given to the passenger when he is entering the station or passenger. This will greatly reduce the hassle in searching stations and also save time in ticket booking.
6. Simpler checking of the refund status at the user accounts page. Earlier this feature was not easily accessible.
7. ‘Regular’ or ‘Favorite’ journeys can be booked easily by automatically entering relevant details.
8. Train search & selection simplified by putting the information on one page to reduce the time used by passengers and enhancing the booking experience.
9. All information on one page – Availability for all class are displayed along with respective fares for all trains. Simply scroll the page and choose to ‘Book’ the desired train and class. Earlier each train seat availability and fares could be seen only after clicking on that train individually.
10. A ‘Cache system’ has been introduced in the backend to provide availability status. This will avoid delays in loading availabilities.
11. In case waitlisted tickets, its ‘confirmation probability’ is displayed. Earlier this had to be checked for each waitlist status separately.
12. Availability for other dates can be toggled on the page itself.
13. Prompts during the booking process for making it easy for even less computer familiar users. This will save his time in wandering on the website for searching the website.
14. The journey details will be shown also at the payment page. It will prompt the user to check and rectify, if there are any typographical errors. These corrections can only be corrected by visiting a PRS centre.
15. The website has in-built features for enhancing cyber security by using appropriate captchas.
16. Best in Class features:
The Upgraded and enhanced e-ticketing website & Mobile App aims to provide best in class user experience amongst various other online travel and ticketing websites.
The level of these features will be even more advanced than the ones offered currently by the other ticketing websites. In most websites, the station search entry is still alphabetical, availability status is either not there or old in time. Moreover, the convenience of integrated booking for stay & meal in this upgraded e-ticketing website is unmatched.
At present, this e-ticketing website of IRCTC has more than 6 Crore active users, using it to book more than 8 Lakhs tickets daily. Around 83% of the total reserved railway tickets are booked through this online system.
Way ahead:
IRCTC & CRIS have been working to introduce ‘Smart Booking’ feature to book connecting trains on alternate routes between the pair of stations which do not have direct trains.
Railways is committed to bring out continued improvements in its e-ticketing services.
While launching the upgraded website and new app, Minister lauded the contribution of Rail Parivar in ensuring a Victories fight back against the challenges posed by Corona and making railways Future Ready. Efforts by IRCTC in the same direction.
Here are the 16 key features of IRCTC’s upgraded e‑ticketing website and mobile app, along with two recent important policy updates:
Contents
🌟 16 Features of the Upgraded IRCTC Website & App
(Source: IRCTCPortal, LiveMint, Financial Express, HT)
- User Personalization: User accounts now offer personalized options like saved profiles, favorite journeys, and integrated services.
- One-Stop Booking: Book rail tickets, meals, retiring rooms, hotels, and more—all in a single workflow.
- AI Station Suggestions: Type station names and get smart predictions to quickly fill in entries.
- Faster Train Search: Filter by class, train type, time, and quota on one page to speed up train selection.
- Real-Time Availability: See seat availability and fares for all classes on one screen—no need to click each train individually.
- Cache System: A backend caching mechanism reduces load times and improves accuracy of availability updates.
- Waitlist Probability: Waitlisted passengers can see their confirmation odds, based on historical booking trends.
- Date Toggle: Easily check availability for alternate travel dates directly on the booking page.
- Booking Prompts: Guidance and prompts help less tech-savvy users navigate ticket booking.
- Journey Review at Payment: You now see full journey details before payment; the system flags typos for correction.
- Enhanced Security: Captchas and anti-bot measures help protect user data and session integrity.
- Integrated History & Refund Status: Transparent access to past bookings, refunds, and cancellation status.
- Regular / Favorite Journeys: Quickly rebook saved routes with prefilled passenger and station details.
- Cross‑Platform Consistency: Intuitive UI across mobile, desktop, and tablet with responsive design.
- Smart Booking (Beta): Plans underway to auto-suggest alternate routes/trains when direct service isn’t available.
- Packed with Additional Services: Integration of Rail Madad, NTES tracking, UTS, IRCTC food ordering, hotel, and cab booking features in the same ecosystem.
📌 Recent IRCTC Policy Updates (Mid‑2025)
1. Aadhaar-linked Tatkal Booking (Effective From July 1, 2025)
- Mandatory Aadhaar link: Only users with Aadhaar-linked IRCTC IDs can book Tatkal tickets online.
- OTP Authentication Introduced from July 15, 2025 at website/app and agents/PRS counters ([TOI] & [ET] news)
2. Advance Reservation Charting
- Pilot launched to generate reservation charts 24 hours before departure for Humsafar trains.
- Expected to expand to other premium trains, allowing earlier confirmation visibility.
✅ TL;DR
- The upgraded IRCTC site/application introduces user-friendliness, faster booking, personalization, real-time availability, waitlist prediction, and security enhancements across the board.
- Important rules ahead: As of July 1, 2025, Aadhaar linkage and OTP verification are mandatory to book Tatkal tickets.
- Reservation charts may soon be released 24 hours before departure on premium trains, increasing planning clarity.
Would you like help learning how to link your Aadhaar, navigate waitlist prediction, or set alerts for new features like Smart Booking?