Railways to roll out biggest train ticket booking upgrade in 40 years this August
UNION Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Thursday reviewed the transition to Indian Railways’ upgraded reservation system and directed officials to ensure passengers do not face inconvenience during the migration from the existing 40-year-old platform.
The review meeting was held at Rail Bhawan in the presence of Union Ministers of State for Railways V. Somanna and Ravneet Singh Bittu.
According to the Ministry of Railways, the reservation system, first introduced in 1986, has now been completely overhauled using upgraded technology and expanded capacity.
Indian Railways introduced internet-based ticket booking in 2002, and online ticketing now accounts for nearly 88 per cent of total ticket bookings in the country, the ministry said.
The ministry said the RailOne mobile application, launched in July last year, has crossed 3.5 crore downloads within a year.
“One of the biggest reasons for its popularity is that the app not only provides all railway-related information to the common man but also resolves complaints related to ticketing and other services,” the Ministry of Railways said.
The ministry added that the app now offers AI-based waitlist confirmation predictions and that the “accuracy of waitlist confirmation prediction has increased from 53% earlier to 94% now.”
RailOne provides services including booking, cancellation and refunds for reserved, unreserved and platform tickets, besides live train status, coach position, platform details, passenger assistance through Rail Madad and food ordering services.
According to the ministry, around 9.29 lakh tickets are booked daily through the app, including 7.2 lakh unreserved tickets and 2.09 lakh reserved tickets.
The Ministry of Railways also said Indian Railways provided a subsidy of Rs 60,239 crore on passenger tickets during 2024-25, amounting to an average concession of 43 per cent per passenger.
“In other words, if the cost of providing the service is Rs 100, the ticket price is only Rs 57,” the ministry said.
