The Indian Railways is undertaking significant reforms to streamline and enhance the passenger experience. Following a review by Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav, several key changes are being implemented to the ticketing system, aiming for greater convenience and efficiency. A primary initiative involves modifying the reservation chart preparation time. The current practice of preparing charts four hours before departure often causes confusion. To address this, the Railway Board has proposed preparing the charts eight hours in advance, with trains departing before 2 PM having their charts ready the previous night. This will provide waitlisted passengers with timely information and facilitate alternative travel arrangements. Furthermore, the Passenger Reservation System (PRS) is undergoing a technical upgrade. The new system, developed by CRIS, promises to be significantly faster and more robust, capable of handling ten times the current booking load. It will facilitate over 1.5 lakh ticket bookings per minute, and ticket inquiry capacity will also increase dramatically. The updated PRS will feature a multilingual, user-friendly interface with enhanced features. In addition, the Railway Minister has mandated stricter authentication measures for Tatkal ticket bookings, including mandatory OTP-based verification for IRCTC website and app users from July 1, 2025.
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