Indian Railways to overhaul ticket booking infrastructure; capacity to hit 1.5 lakh per minute by August

KOCHI: In a massive technological upgrade, Indian Railways is set to expand its ticket reservation capacity fivefold by August this year. Backed by a budget allocation of ₹1,000 crore, the digital infrastructure overhaul will scale up booking capabilities from the current 32,000 tickets per minute to an unprecedented 1.5 lakh (150,000) tickets per minute, leveraging Artificial Intelligence (AI) to streamline traffic.

This initiative marks the first comprehensive overhaul of the Railways' Passenger Reservation Service (PRS) since 1986. The PRS forms the core system powering physical ticket counters, official mobile applications, and the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) website. Alongside the network upgrade, the IRCTC website is scheduled for a major interface refresh next month, which will introduce an AI-powered system capable of predicting waiting-list confirmation probabilities with 94% accuracy.

Crackdown on fraudulent bookings

The upcoming modernization drive follows a massive security cleanup operation by the Railways. The integration of Aadhaar OTP-based authentication for Tatkal bookings has enabled authorities to identify and deactivate over 3.03 crore fraudulent user accounts previously used for unauthorized bulk ticket hoarding. Additionally, 12,819 malicious email domains were blacklisted over the past year to block automated ticketing software used by illegal agents.

Since the inception of online railway reservations in 2002, digital adoption has grown exponentially, now accounting for 88% of all ticket bookings across the country.

Resolving peak-hour bottlenecks

The upcoming technical revamp aims to systematically eliminate several chronic operational issues faced by daily commuters, focusing primarily on:

• Server Resiliency: Eliminating frequent server timeouts and processing delays during high-traffic peak hours.
• Anti-Tout Measures: Countering the automated exploitation of Tatkal windows by unauthorized chatbots and automated scripts used for instant bulk reservations.
• Streamlined Access: Resolving ambiguities associated with illegible Captcha verification codes and reducing passenger uncertainty regarding waiting lists.

The scale of this digital expansion corresponds directly with the massive passenger volume handled by the network. Financial year data spanning March 2025 to March 2026 reveals that Indian Railways recorded a staggering 741 crore passengers nationwide, with Kerala alone accounting for 9 crore commuters during the same period.