IRCTC Website: Ticket booking will be easy, but will the biggest problem of passengers end?

These days, a new hope and an old question are going on simultaneously among the railway passengers (IRCTC Website). There is a lot of discussion about the new ticket system and website, but those who have been struggling for a confirmed seat for a long time, there is still a question in their minds whether this change will solve their real problem.

Every day millions of people try for tickets at stations, platforms and mobile screens. Sometimes technical problems bother us and sometimes tickets are not available. In such an environment, the announcement of the new website has certainly increased the curiosity, but the debate has now gone beyond technology and has reached the capacity of the Railways.

recently Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav Has announced the launch of a new website to address the problems faced during ticket booking. It has been told that the new platform will be made available to passengers by July 15. The decision came after a complaint by a student, which mentioned issues like captcha, delay in OTP and payment failure.

First experience of crores of passengers IRCTC Website

Today the railway journey does not start from the station but from the mobile and computer screens. A large share of reserved tickets in the country are booked online. In such a situation, the experience of ticket booking decides the first opinion of the passengers.

For this reason, Railways has been making changes in its reservation system from time to time. Continuous efforts are being made to provide convenient experience to the passengers through new technology, better capacity and easy interface.

Many big changes happened earlier also

Over the years, Railways has taken several steps to strengthen the reservation system. Next generation e-ticketing system was implemented, mobile apps were launched and the website was redesigned.

After these changes, passengers started getting facilities related to train information, platform related information, possible status of waiting list and refund. Booking capacity was also increased many fold compared to before.

Why does the problem still persist?

Despite technological improvements, the biggest challenge of the Railways is still the availability of seats. Many major rail routes are operating at a large portion of their capacity. The number of passengers on busy routes is continuously increasing while the availability of seats remains limited.

This is why it is difficult to get confirmed tickets in many popular trains. This problem increases especially during Tatkal booking and festival season.

The new website may make ticket booking easier (IRCTC Website), but may not provide additional trains and seats. This is the reason that despite technological improvements, the basic problem does not seem to be completely eliminated.

Pressure on infrastructure too

The challenges of railways are not limited to tracks only. Several reports noted increased pressure on stations, terminals, pit lines and other operational facilities.

On many routes the demand is so high that the available berths and seats are not able to meet the needs of the passengers. To reduce this pressure, work is being done on various railway projects.

Most tension in Tatkal ticket

Tatkal booking is the area where most complaints from passengers come up. As soon as the tickets are opened, the seats get sold out within a few minutes. In such a situation, even a delay of a few seconds becomes the reason for getting or missing the ticket.

Slow page, delayed OTP or payment problem becomes a big challenge for the passengers. This is the reason why Railways is continuously trying to strengthen its technical system.

Balance between security and convenience

Railways has imposed Aadhaar verification, OTP verification, anti-bot system and various types of limitations on agents (IRCTC Website). Their objective is to prevent hoarding of tickets and make the process fair.

However, these additional steps also cause some inconvenience to users. This is why Railways has to work on two fronts simultaneously. On one hand, preventing misuse and on the other hand improving the experience of passengers.

What will change with the new platform

According to Railways, features like faster booking, better inquiry services, seat selection facility, fare calendar and multilingual support will be added in the upcoming upgrade. This is expected to give users a better experience than before.

If the new platform is successful, passengers may get relief during Tatkal booking. Incidents of transaction failure can be reduced and information about available seats will also be available in a more accurate manner.

Still the biggest question remains there. Changing the website may make ticket booking easier, but until there are enough trains and seats available to meet the increasing demand, the biggest challenge of the Railways does not appear to be completely resolved.