Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw confirms that the railways have decided to upgrade the IRCTC (Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation) platform and launch a new website by July 15 to make ticket bookings easier for passengers.
Minister's Announcement at MNIT Jaipur
Vaishnaw announced during an interaction with students at Malaviya National Institute of Technology (MNIT), Jaipur. A video of the exchange in which Vaishnaw dialled a railway official to ask about the new website has gone viral on social media.
The shared video starts with the railway minister's interaction with students. The clip shows students complaining and asking for a solution to the Captcha issue on the official railway website, which millions use daily to book their train journeys across the country.
Vaishnaw enquired with the railway department about the ongoing development of the new website, stating that "All the students have demanded that there should be a new IRCTC website," and he asked the railway official whether the new website could be deployed within 30 days.
Subsequently, Vaishnaw provided the students with instant answers to their questions. He informed the students that a new IRCTC website would launch by July 15, prompting cheers and expressions of gratitude.
Current Website Issues
The IRCTC website has long been flagged for its crashes and outages during peak hours. OTP problems and high-traffic bottlenecks during Tatkal bookings have been one of the key complaints of passengers.
Details about the IRTC website bookings
Since Indian Railways introduced online ticket reservations in 2002, digital bookings have become the primary method for purchasing tickets. Officials claimed that approximately 88% of train ticket sales are now conducted online, rather than at physical reservation counters.
As of July last year, tickets under the Tatkal Scheme can only be booked by Aadhaar-authenticated users through the IRCTC website or app. In 2025, a total of 3.04 crore IRCTC user accounts were deactivated, while 2.94 crore accounts were temporarily suspended with an option for 'Revalidation'.
AI-Based Food Monitoring System
Earlier this month, IRCTC announced that it had significantly improved its monitoring system to ensure the hygiene and quality of food served at railway stations and on trains. The organisation has implemented an AI-based monitoring system in its base kitchens, allowing for continuous surveillance of the food preparation process nationwide.
More than 800 IRCTC kitchens across the country are now connected to 2,394 AI-powered cameras, which are monitored from a central command centre in New Delhi. This AI-driven system closely monitors the cleanliness of food served on trains and can detect 9 types of anomalies that could compromise food hygiene.
