New Delhi: Indian Railways launched the beta version of its redesigned Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation, or IRCTC, website on Wednesday evening, introducing a cleaner interface and a simplified online train-ticket booking process.
The beta platform went live at 9:00 PM on July 15 and is available through the existing IRCTC website. It has been released for public testing, allowing users to experience the redesigned interface and submit feedback before the wider rollout of the platform.
The redesigned website introduces four key changes. Passengers can view seat availability across different travel classes on a single screen, reducing the need to check each class separately. The number of steps required to complete a booking has also been reduced to provide a faster checkout process.
The platform allows users to save passenger details, enabling them to complete repeat bookings without entering the same information again. Indian Railways has also removed unnecessary captchas, pop-up windows, flashing graphics and other distracting elements from the beta interface.
The changes were developed after students from the Malaviya National Institute of Technology in Jaipur raised concerns about the existing ticket-booking experience during an interaction with Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw. Students were subsequently included in the design-review process and provided feedback on the appearance and usability of the redesigned platform.
The beta version will be used to collect suggestions from passengers. Indian Railways said feedback received during the trial period would be considered for future releases of the website.
The redesigned website is being developed separately from Indian Railways’ Passenger Reservation Engine, which powers ticket-booking applications and platforms. The reservation engine is also being upgraded and will later be integrated with the new IRCTC website. The fully functional portal will be introduced after this integration is completed.
The IRCTC ticket-booking website was first launched in 2002 and currently handles an average of approximately 14.5 lakh tickets per day. The beta rollout forms part of Indian Railways’ efforts to update the digital systems used by passengers for online reservations.
