(MENAFN- Live Mint) Indian Railway is set to launch a series of reforms to improve the passenger travel experience when booking a train ticket, according to an official press note from the Railway Ministry on Sunday, 29 June 2025.

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The government, through the Indian Railways, aims to take steps like improving the charting, introducing a modern Passenger Reservation System (PRS), and streamlining the authentication for all Tatkal bookings.

According to the official note, Union Minister of Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw also recently reviewed the progress of these upcoming reforms.

“He (Ashwini Vaishnaw) emphasised that the ticketing system should be smart, transparent, accessible, and efficient. Planning should focus on passenger convenience. The system must ensure a smooth and comfortable travel experience for our passengers,” said the Railway Ministry in the official press note.

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1. Improved advanced charting: The Indian Railway board has proposed to prepare the reservation chart“eight hours” before the departure of the train. This advanced charting system seeks to get rid of the uncertainties in the minds of passengers.

The Ministry also said that for trains set to depart before 2 p.m. on any particular day, the reservation chart will be prepared at 9 p.m. the previous day.

The current rule states that the reservation chart must be prepared four hours before a train's departure. The Ministry also highlighted how this high uncertainty can cause serious problems for people travelling via Indian Railways.

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“Wherever passengers are coming from a nearby area to catch the train, this uncertainty can cause serious problems,” according to the press note.

Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw agreed with this proposal, and the board will start implementing it in phases to ensure no disruption of operations.

2. Passenger Reservation System (PRS): Indian Railways is also set to launch a modern Passenger Reservation System (PRS) by December 2025, which aims to be agile, flexible, and scalable to handle ten times the current load.

This move seeks to improve ticket booking capacity. The Railways aims that the new PRS will allow booking over 1.5 lakh tickets per minute, marking a fivefold increase from the current level of 32,000 tickets per minute in the existing PRS.

“The ticket enquiry capacity will jump ten times i.e. from 4 lakh to over 40 lakh per enquiry will be possible in a minute time,” said the Ministry in the note.

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They also highlighted that the new PRS will be multilingual and will be equipped with a user-friendly booking and enquiry interface where people will be able to submit their choice of seat and see the far calendar.

3. Streamlined Tatkal bookings: Starting 1 July 2025, the new reform will allow only authenticated users to book Tatkal train tickets through the IRCTC website and mobile application.

Indian Railways has also implemented OTP-based authentication for Tatkal bookings from the end of July 2025. Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw also directed the Railway officials to broaden the authentication mechanism for the Tatkal bookings.

“The authentication should be done using Aadhaar or any other verifiable Government ID available in the user's DigiLocker account,” said the Railway Minister, aiming to modernise its systems to make it more traveller-friendly.

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