Indian Railways is preparing to revamp its ticketing and reservation process by advancing the preparation of train charts eight hours before a train’s departure, among other measures.
The move is aimed at providing better predictability for waitlisted passengers.
In addition to the early chart preparation, the Railways will roll out a Modern Passenger Reservation System (PRS) by December 2025. The project is being implemented by the Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS).
Once operational, the new PRS will be capable of handling over 1.5 lakh ticket bookings per minute, a nearly five-fold increase from the current capacity of 32,000 tickets per minute.
The ticket enquiry system will also see a dramatic upgrade, with enquiry capacity jumping from 4 lakh to over 40 lakh per minute, improving access to real-time booking information for millions of passengers.
Meanwhile, an Aadhaar linkage mandate for Tatkal train bookings will also come into effect from July 1. Passengers reserving tickets under the Tatkal quota will be required to provide Aadhaar details during the booking process.
The railways expect to carry around 7.57 billion passengers in FY26, compared to 7.27 billion in FY25.
Second-class fare hiked from July 1
The news comes days after officials confirmed to ET that the Indian Railways will increase second-class travel fares by half a paisa per kilometre beyond 500 km starting July.
This is the first fare hike since 2020. For mail express trains, the increase translates to 1 paisa per km, while air-conditioned (AC) classes will see a 2 paisa per km rise. However, suburban fares and monthly season tickets will remain unchanged.
To put this in perspective, the current per kilometre fare for a 3AC ticket on the Delhi-Howrah route is approximately Rs 1.13.
A senior official told ET that these revised rates will be effective from July 1, but tickets booked prior to this date will not be subject to the fare increase.
According to the ET report, his fare revision aligns with the railway ministry’s budget estimates for fiscal year 2025-26, which targets passenger fare revenue of Rs 92,800 crore, up from Rs 80,000 crore in the previous year.
The last fare hike in 2020 raised second-class fares by 1 paisa per km, sleeper class fares by 2 paisa, and AC fares by 4 paisa. A more substantial hike was implemented in 2013, with second-class fares increasing by 2 paisa, sleeper and 2AC fares by 6 paisa, and other AC categories by 10 paisa per km.
The move is aimed at providing better predictability for waitlisted passengers.
In addition to the early chart preparation, the Railways will roll out a Modern Passenger Reservation System (PRS) by December 2025. The project is being implemented by the Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS).
Once operational, the new PRS will be capable of handling over 1.5 lakh ticket bookings per minute, a nearly five-fold increase from the current capacity of 32,000 tickets per minute.
The ticket enquiry system will also see a dramatic upgrade, with enquiry capacity jumping from 4 lakh to over 40 lakh per minute, improving access to real-time booking information for millions of passengers.
Meanwhile, an Aadhaar linkage mandate for Tatkal train bookings will also come into effect from July 1. Passengers reserving tickets under the Tatkal quota will be required to provide Aadhaar details during the booking process.
The railways expect to carry around 7.57 billion passengers in FY26, compared to 7.27 billion in FY25.
Second-class fare hiked from July 1
The news comes days after officials confirmed to ET that the Indian Railways will increase second-class travel fares by half a paisa per kilometre beyond 500 km starting July.
This is the first fare hike since 2020. For mail express trains, the increase translates to 1 paisa per km, while air-conditioned (AC) classes will see a 2 paisa per km rise. However, suburban fares and monthly season tickets will remain unchanged.
To put this in perspective, the current per kilometre fare for a 3AC ticket on the Delhi-Howrah route is approximately Rs 1.13.
A senior official told ET that these revised rates will be effective from July 1, but tickets booked prior to this date will not be subject to the fare increase.
According to the ET report, his fare revision aligns with the railway ministry’s budget estimates for fiscal year 2025-26, which targets passenger fare revenue of Rs 92,800 crore, up from Rs 80,000 crore in the previous year.
The last fare hike in 2020 raised second-class fares by 1 paisa per km, sleeper class fares by 2 paisa, and AC fares by 4 paisa. A more substantial hike was implemented in 2013, with second-class fares increasing by 2 paisa, sleeper and 2AC fares by 6 paisa, and other AC categories by 10 paisa per km.
You may also like
Police find body after boy, 15, vanished while paddleboarding in Fife
Centre disburses Rs 1,162 crore under telecom PLI scheme
I visited a beautiful but underrated little European town and it's better than Zurich
De Minaur and Boulter's life off court during Wimbledon as Aussie 'sneaks' around house
Grey's Anatomy legend addresses possible show return and it's not good news
