Booking a railway ticket? Old website gone as IRCTC switches to new e-ticketing site; what you should know
passengers take note! IRCTC’s revamped next-generation e-ticketing website has gone live completely, with the national transporter doing away with the old irctc.co.in website. Now, when users try to open irctc.co.in, they are automatically redirected to the new IRCTC e-ticketing website irctc.co.in/nget/train-search! The IRCTC next-generation e-ticketing website has been revamped after many years and the new version boasts of several new features including a new software that tells passengers the chances of their wait-listed tickets getting confirmed! The switch to the new version of the IRCTC website happened yesterday evening around 7:00 PM. The beta version of the revamped e-ticketing website was launched on May 28, 2018, and was available as a link for users to try on the old IRCTC website. Indian Railways, after testing the new website and recording feedback, decided to make the switch.
Last week, in an interaction with Financial Express Online, Mohd. Jamshed, Member Traffic, Railway Board said that he was happy with the feedback from users on the new IRCTC website. “We have been working on the IRCTC website for the last couple of months taking it through rigorous checks, especially viz-a-viz the best kind of websites available in the country and globally. The aim was to make the website smooth and user-friendly and give users as many options and conveniences as possible,” Mohd. Jamshed told FE Online. “We want that users should be able to glide through the exercise of checking train availability and ticket booking. At the same time, we have taken care of the built-in cyber-security. The last I checked as many as 70% of the users on the new IRCTC e-ticketing website have given it a thumbs up, which is a very good number,” he said.
The new IRCTC next-generation e-ticketing website does not require users to log in to check train availability. The new user-friendly layout allows users to check the train fare break-up, availability of trains on other days, modification of journey details and the above mentioned new software that gives the percentage chances of the wait-listed train tickets getting confirmed. The new software makes use of historical data for two years to capture trends and predict the chances of waitlisted tickets being confirmed. Indian Railways claims that the software developed by CRIS (Centre For Railway Information Systems) is more accurate than similar software on other ticketing portals since it makes use of more extensive and accurate data available with the national transporter. The new ‘Vikalp’ feature now allows passengers to choose alternate accommodation in case of waitlisted tickets in different trains including specials. Financial Express Online went through the process of e-ticket booking on the new IRCTC website and we have listed 8 easy steps here.
Recently, Modi government in its 4-year report card of the Railway Ministry claimed that more than 20,000 tickets have been booked on the IRCTC e-ticketing website. With increasing internet penetration, the need for a simple, user-friendly IRCTC website was the need of the hour. The revamped IRCTC next-generation e-ticketing website is a welcome initiative, but it is important for Indian Railways to keep tracking the feedback of users and simplifying the process of ticket booking at periodic intervals.
