3 weeks ago
Indian Railways' new Passenger Reservation System makes ticket booking faster
Indian Railways is the organisation that runs trains in India.
When people want to travel by train, they book a ticket using a computer system.
That system is called the Passenger Reservation System, or PRS.
It was built in 1986, which is almost 40 years ago and very old for a computer system.
Old systems can be slow, so Indian Railways decided to build a new and better one.
The new system will be able to handle many more bookings every minute than the old one.
It will also be available in many languages and be easier to use.
In May, Indian Railways announced the change would start in August, and the move to the new system has already begun.
A new beta website from IRCTC has also made booking faster.
Soon, booking a train ticket in India may be much quicker than before.
Indian Railways is rolling out an upgraded Passenger Reservation System (PRS) to make train ticket booking faster and more convenient.
The PRS, developed by CRIS and introduced in 1986, has been the backbone of railway reservations for nearly four decades.
The phased upgrade was announced in May and began in August, with Railway Board official Dharmendra Tewari confirming the migration has started.
The next-generation PRS will handle over 1.5 lakh bookings per minute, compared with about 32,000 on the existing system.
The IRCTC beta website, launched on July 15, improved booking performance, with Tatkal bookings within three minutes rising over 5 per cent.
- Who
- Indian Railways, the Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS), Railway Board official Dharmendra Tewari, and train passengers
- What
- Introduction of an upgraded next-generation Passenger Reservation System to make train ticket booking faster, more reliable and more convenient
- Where
- India, across the Indian Railways network
- When
- Announced in May, with phased migration beginning in August; the IRCTC beta website launched on July 15
- Why
- To replace the 40-year-old PRS, meet growing online ticketing demand, and improve booking speed and capacity
Key facts
- System being upgraded
- Passenger Reservation System (PRS)
- Developer
- Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS)
- PRS introduced
- 1986, replacing the manual reservation system
- Upgrade timeline
- Announced in May; phased migration began in August
- New booking capacity
- Over 1.5 lakh bookings per minute (existing: ~32,000)
- New enquiry capacity
- Over 40 lakh per minute (existing: ~4 lakh)
- IRCTC beta website launch
- July 15
- Tickets booked June 2025-June 2026
- 65.08 crore reserved tickets, about 89% booked online
Quotes
Dharmendra Tewari
Additional Director General, Public Relations, Railway Board
“"Layer by layer matching of the new user friendly look & feel will involve a slow and steady load based testing as we migrate from the old to the new PRS."”
financialexpress.com
“The phased migration to the new system has already begun.”
indianexpress.com
Sources
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