New Delhi, Jun 30 (PTI) The Ministry of Railways has decided to prepare reservation charts for long-distance trains eight hours in advance, instead of the current four hours, to help passengers travelling from remote locations plan their journeys better.

The decision was taken during a recent review meeting chaired by Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, a statement issued by the ministry said.

Also Read | Kolkata Fatafat Result Today: Kolkata FF Result for June 30, 2025 Declared, Check Winning Numbers and Result Chart of Satta Matka-Type Lottery Game.

Under Vaishnaw's guidance, officials are working to prepare the reservation chart eight hours before the train's departure instead of the current four hours, it said.

"It will benefit passengers travelling from remote locations or suburbs of major cities for catching long-distance trains. It will also provide more time to make alternative arrangements in case the wait list is not confirmed," the ministry said.

Also Read | Himachal Pradesh Weather Forecast and Update: Red Alert Issued in Mandi District, Beas River Flooded After Heavy Rainfall.

"The new upgraded Passenger Reservation System (PRS) will allow over 1.5 lakh ticket bookings per minute. This will be an increase of roughly five times from 32,000 tickets per minute in the current PRS," it added.

The ministry said the new PRS also has a multilingual and user-friendly booking and enquiry interface.

In the new PRS, users will be able to submit their choice of seat and see the fare calendar. It also has integrated facilities for Divyangjan, students and patients, officials said.

"Indian Railways will allow only authenticated users to book Tatkal tickets on the IRCTC website and its mobile app beginning 1st July, 2025," the ministry said.

It emphasised that OTP-based authentication will be done for Tatkal bookings from the end of July.

The minister instructed officials to broaden the authentication mechanism for Tatkal bookings.

"The authentication should be done using Aadhaar or any other verifiable government ID available in the user's DigiLocker account," the statement said.

According to the ministry, these measures reflect the Railways' continuous efforts to modernise its systems and make them more citizen-friendly.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)