IRCTC website relaunch on July 15: 1.5 lakh bookings per minute, new features
Synopsis
IRCTC's portal relaunch on 15 July isn't just a cosmetic refresh — it's a near-5x capacity jump to 1.5 lakh bookings per minute, a tenfold PRS upgrade, and the first serious attempt to fix the Tatkal crash problem at its root. If it holds under real-world load, it could be the most consequential upgrade to Indian rail ticketing in a decade.
Key Takeaways
IRCTC launches its revamped booking website on 15 July , announced by Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw at an event in Rajasthan .
New booking capacity: more than 1.5 lakh tickets per minute , up from 32,000 per minute — a nearly 5x increase.
Passenger Reservation System (PRS) upgraded to handle more than 40 lakh enquiries per minute , up from 4 lakh .
New features include a fare calendar , preferred seat selection , and a unified seat availability view across all classes.
Portal will support multiple Indian languages and offer integrated services for Divyangjan , students, and patients.
Unnecessary pop-ups, flashing graphics , and excessive CAPTCHA prompts are being removed to speed up bookings.
The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) is set to unveil a fully revamped ticket booking portal on 15 July, promising to process more than 1.5 lakh bookings per minute — nearly five times the current capacity — and introducing a clutch of passenger-centric features aimed at overhauling one of India's most-used digital platforms.
What Prompted the Overhaul
Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw announced the relaunch at an event in Rajasthan, after students flagged persistent difficulties with the existing IRCTC portal. The complaints — slow load times, intrusive CAPTCHAs, and a cluttered interface — reflect a long-standing frustration among millions of daily users who compete for limited Tatkal and general quota tickets.
The Capacity Jump
The most significant upgrade is a near-5x leap in booking throughput: the new platform will handle more than 1.5 lakh ticket bookings per minute, up from the current 32,000 bookings per minute. The Passenger Reservation System (PRS) is also being scaled up to support more than 40 lakh enquiries per minute, a tenfold increase from the existing 4 lakh enquiries per minute. The enhanced infrastructure is expected to ease the notorious bottlenecks during Tatkal booking windows, when the portal routinely crashes or times out.
New Features for Passengers
Beyond raw capacity, the revamped portal introduces several convenience upgrades. A fare calendar will let users compare ticket prices across multiple travel dates before committing to a booking. Passengers will also be able to specify preferred seat choices at the time of reservation — a feature that frequent travellers have long requested.
A unified seat availability view will display real-time availability across Sleeper, AC 3 Tier, AC 2 Tier and other classes on a single screen, eliminating the need to check each class separately. The new site will also strip out unnecessary pop-ups, flashing graphics and excessive CAPTCHA prompts that have historically slowed the booking process.
Accessibility and Language Support
The upgraded platform will support multiple Indian languages, broadening access for non-English-speaking travellers. Dedicated integrated services for Divyangjan (persons with disabilities), students, and patients will be consolidated under a single interface, simplifying the process of availing concessional and special-category bookings.
What Comes Next
The relaunch on 15 July will be closely watched given the IRCTC portal's scale — it serves tens of millions of users and is among the highest-traffic government websites in India. Whether the upgraded infrastructure holds up under real-world peak-hour load, particularly during Tatkal opening windows, will be the true test of the overhaul's success.
Point of View
But the real measure of this relaunch will be the first Tatkal window after go-live. IRCTC's portal has been upgraded before — the chronic failure has always been at peak concurrency, not average load. A tenfold PRS enquiry upgrade is meaningful, but if the front-end queuing and session management aren't equally robust, the bottleneck simply shifts. The addition of a fare calendar and unified class view signals that IRCTC is finally thinking about user experience rather than just throughput — a welcome shift, but one that arrives years after private travel platforms set the benchmark.
NationPress
14 Jul 2026
Frequently Asked Questions
When is the new IRCTC website launching?
The revamped IRCTC ticket booking website is set to launch on 15 July , as announced by Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw. The rollout was confirmed at an event in Rajasthan.
How fast will the new IRCTC portal be compared to the old one?
The new portal will handle more than 1.5 lakh bookings per minute , compared with the current capacity of around 32,000 bookings per minute — a nearly fivefold increase. The PRS will also scale from 4 lakh to over 40 lakh enquiries per minute.
What new features will the revamped IRCTC website offer?
Key new features include a fare calendar for comparing prices across dates, preferred seat selection at booking, a unified seat availability view across all classes, multi-language support, and removal of disruptive pop-ups and CAPTCHA prompts.
Will the new IRCTC site help with Tatkal ticket bookings?
Yes, the enhanced infrastructure is specifically aimed at reducing delays during peak periods like Tatkal booking windows. The near-5x jump in booking capacity and the PRS upgrade are both designed to prevent the crashes and timeouts that currently affect Tatkal users.
Who will benefit from the accessibility features on the new IRCTC portal?
The new platform consolidates special booking services for Divyangjan (persons with disabilities), students , and patients under a single interface. Multi-language support will also make the portal more accessible to non-English-speaking travellers across India.
