Indian Railways to boost ticket booking capacity fourfold with PRS upgrade

New Delhi: The Indian Railways is upgrading its passenger reservation system (PRS) to handle over one lakh ticket bookings per minute, up from the current capacity of 25,000, the government has said.

The overhaul, being implemented through the Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS), involves replacing and upgrading hardware, software, network equipment, security infrastructure and functionalities. The new system will be built on modern technology, designed to accommodate future features and cloud-compliant architecture.

The existing PRS, deployed in 2010, runs on Itanium servers and Open VMS (Virtual Memory System). It now requires replacement of legacy technology with advanced platforms, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw told Parliament.

He said the modernized PRS will cater to the changing preferences and expectations of passengers.

From November 1, 2024, the Advance Reservation Period (ARP) for trains that earlier had a 120-day ARP has been reduced to 60 days, excluding the date of journey. This change, the minister noted, aims to align with booking trends and reduce cancellations caused by unforeseen events.

The Railways has also launched the RailOne app, which allows passengers to book both reserved and unreserved tickets on their mobile phones, effectively putting the PRS in commuters’ hands.

“Changes in the ARP, based on booking trends and passenger feedback, are an ongoing process. While the present PRS can handle around 25,000 tickets per minute, the upgraded system is designed to manage more than four times that capacity,” Vaishnaw said.

Meanwhile, the proportion of non-AC coaches in the Railways’ fleet has risen to about 70 per cent. A special manufacturing program is underway to produce an additional 17,000 general and sleeper coaches over the next five years.

In 2024-25 alone, 1,250 general coaches were deployed in various long-distance trains to improve facilities for passengers travelling in the general class.