What Is New on the New IRCTC Website? Check 5 Major Changes

India's railway ticket booking system has received its biggest digital overhaul in years with the launch of IRCTC's redesigned website on July 15, 2026. Announced by Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw after students highlighted issues such as repeated CAPTCHA checks and booking delays, the revamped platform introduces a cleaner interface, significantly higher booking capacity and several new passenger-friendly features aimed at improving the online ticket booking experience.

The upgrade goes beyond cosmetic changes. Along with a redesigned website, Indian Railways has enhanced the Passenger Reservation System (PRS) to handle substantially higher booking and enquiry volumes. The improvements are intended to ease congestion during peak booking periods, particularly Tatkal hours, while making ticket booking faster and more accessible for passengers across the country. India's 1st Bullet Train To Begin Phased Operations From August 15, 2027, Starting With Surat–Bilimora Section.

What Is New on the Redesigned IRCTC Website?

Cleaner, Faster User Interface

One of the most noticeable changes is a simplified interface with fewer pop-ups, reduced CAPTCHA interruptions and faster page loading. The redesign aims to make ticket booking smoother, especially during high-demand booking windows when delays can result in missed reservations.

Preferred Seat and Berth Selection

Passengers can now indicate their preferred seat or berth while booking tickets. The feature gives travellers greater control over seat allocation, reducing dependence on random allotments wherever availability permits. Train Puja Viral Video: Railway Clarifies Ritual Was Held in Privately Booked Saloon Car, Not Passenger Coach.

Fare Calendar for Flexible Travel

A newly introduced fare calendar allows users to compare ticket fares across different travel dates before confirming a booking. The feature helps passengers identify lower-fare travel options without conducting multiple searches.

Availability Across All Classes on One Screen

Instead of checking Sleeper, AC 3 Tier, AC 2 Tier and other travel classes individually, passengers can now view seat availability across all classes on a single screen. This simplifies ticket searches and reduces the time required to compare travel options.

Multilingual Support and Better Accessibility

The redesigned website now supports multiple Indian languages, making it easier for users to navigate the platform in their preferred language. Services related to concession bookings for Divyangjan passengers, students and patients have also been integrated into a single platform, improving accessibility and convenience.

The most significant enhancement is the increase in system capacity. The current IRCTC platform processes around 32,000 ticket bookings per minute. The upgraded system is designed to support more than 1.5 lakh bookings per minute, representing nearly a fivefold increase that is expected to improve performance during Tatkal bookings.

Similarly, the Passenger Reservation System's enquiry handling capacity has been expanded from approximately 4 lakh enquiries per minute to over 40 lakh enquiries per minute. This is expected to make seat availability searches, PNR status checks and other reservation-related queries significantly faster.

The existing IRCTC platform has frequently experienced slow page loads, payment failures and booking errors during peak demand, particularly during Tatkal booking hours when lakhs of users access the website simultaneously.

By increasing booking capacity and simplifying the user interface, Indian Railways aims to reduce congestion, improve booking success rates and offer a more reliable digital experience for millions of passengers.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 15, 2026 04:34 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).