Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has announced that a revamped IRCTC website will be launched by July 15, aiming to address long-standing complaints related to ticket booking and user experience.
The announcement was made during an interaction with students at Malaviya National Institute of Technology (MNIT), Jaipur.
Student raises captcha issue
A video of the interaction has since gone viral on social media. In the clip, a student urges the Railway Minister to resolve recurring captcha-related problems on the IRCTC platform, which is used by millions of passengers daily for train ticket bookings.
Responding to the complaint, Vaishnaw was seen calling a railway official from the college campus. Referring to the students’ demand for a better booking platform, he asked the official whether a new IRCTC website could be launched within the next 30 days.
After the brief conversation, the minister informed students that the upgraded website would be rolled out by July 15, drawing applause from those present.
Users have flagged technical issues
The IRCTC portal has frequently come under criticism from users over slow performance, technical glitches and difficulties during Tatkal ticket bookings. Many passengers have also reported issues related to OTP-based login and website outages during peak booking periods.
Online bookings dominate railway ticket sales
Indian Railways has been offering online ticket booking through IRCTC since 2002, significantly reducing crowds at reservation counters over the years.
According to a railway official quoted by NDTV, nearly 88 per cent of train tickets are now booked online. Since July 2025, Aadhaar authentication has been made mandatory for booking Tatkal tickets through the online platform.
Railways also undertook a major account verification exercise in 2025, deactivating 3.04 crore IRCTC accounts and temporarily suspending another 2.94 crore accounts, while allowing users to restore access through a revalidation process.