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The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) has unveiled the beta version of its revamped website, introducing several user-friendly features aimed at making online railway ticket booking faster and more convenient.
The redesigned portal went live on July 15 and is currently available for users to explore and provide feedback before the final version is rolled out. A dedicated link to the beta platform has also been added to the existing IRCTC homepage.
The upgrade comes as IRCTC continues to manage one of the world’s largest online railway ticketing networks, processing nearly 14.5 lakh tickets every day.
Key changes in the new IRCTC website
The revamped website focuses on simplifying the booking journey and reducing unnecessary steps. Key improvements include:
Reduced Captchas and Pop-ups: Unnecessary captchas, flashing graphics and pop-ups have been removed to provide a smoother browsing and booking experience.\
Seat Availability Across Classes: Passengers can now view seat availability across multiple travel classes more conveniently while searching for trains.
Faster Checkout Process: The number of booking steps has been reduced, enabling quicker payments and ticket confirmation.
Easy Repeat Bookings: Users can save passenger details, allowing them to book tickets without repeatedly entering the same information.
Student feedback incorporated
According to the Ministry of Railways, several design and usability suggestions came from students of the Malaviya National Institute of Technology (MNIT), Jaipur, during interactions with Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw. Their feedback was incorporated into the development of the new interface.
The website revamp is part of a broader effort to modernise the Passenger Reservation Engine (PRE), the core system that powers railway ticket bookings in India. Since the reservation system must remain operational during the transition, the upgrade is being implemented in phases.
IRCTC said the fully functional version of the new website will be launched in the coming weeks after integration with the upgraded reservation engine is completed.
Passengers have been encouraged to test the beta version and share feedback to help refine the platform before its nationwide rollout.
