New IRCTC Website Beta Version Launched With Improved Interface, Faster Booking And More

People have often joked about the difficulties of booking a train ticket on the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) website, especially during Tatkal bookings. However, the issue seems to have finally been resolved with the launch of the beta version of its redesigned IRCTC website on July 15 at 9 pm, which aims to offer a smoother ticket-booking experience with an improved interface, faster page loads, fewer captchas, and higher booking capacity.

The beta version launch of the IRCTC website comes weeks after Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw visited Malaviya National Institute of Technology (MNIT) in Jaipur last month, where he announced the launch of the upgraded IRCTC website by mid-July. During the discussions, the students also spoke up about the difficulties of booking a train ticket on the current IRCTC portal, which was launched in 2002 and currently handles an average of about 14.5 lakh ticket bookings every day, making the current infrastructure unable to handle the traffic.

"The students were made a part of the design process wherein they gave suggestions on improving the look and feel of the website. Based on the feedback received, the new website is ready for trial," PIB stated in a press note.

What's New On The IRCTC Website?

Cleaner interface - The new website has removed unnecessary captchas, pop-ups, flashing graphics and similar distracting elements to ensure a faster and uninterrupted booking experience.

Faster checkout - Users can now easily book tickets with fewer steps to complete, making the process quicker and simpler.

Seat availability - Users can now see seat availability across all travel classes on a single screen instead of viewing each separately.

Passenger information - The upgraded website saves the passenger details of frequent travellers, making future bookings easier.

Fare comparison - Users can now compare ticket prices across various dates before making the final travel plan.

Higher booking capacity - The new website is built to process over 1.5 lakh ticket bookings every minute, which is five times more than the roughly 32,000 bookings per minute in the existing system.

The Indian Railways has asked passengers to share suggestions and feedback on the newer features introduced in the beta version, which will be used to make further improvements before the website is fully launched. The national transporter further added that the improved IRCTC website will be integrated with the upcoming Passenger Reservation System (PRS), which is being revamped in parallel to handle more than 40 lakh enquiries per minute compared with about 4 lakh in the existing portal.

How To Access The IRCTC New Website?

Users can now access the beta version of the new IRCTC website by visiting https://www.irctc.co.in/eticket/. Also, a link to the beta version is available on the homepage of the existing IRCTC website.