Booking a train ticket online can be stressful, especially during Tatkal hours when thousands of passengers try to book seats at the same time.
Website slowdowns, failed payments and pages not loading can make the process even more frustrating.
Now, Indian Railways is working on a major technology upgrade for IRCTC’s Next Generation e-Ticketing (NGeT) system.
The goal is to handle heavy traffic more efficiently and reduce website disruptions during peak booking hours.
The upgrade could be particularly useful for passengers trying to book tickets during Tatkal and other high-demand periods.
Why Does IRCTC Face Problems During Peak Hours?
IRCTC sees extremely high traffic when fresh reservations open.
The Advance Reservation Period starts at 8 am, while Tatkal bookings begin at 10 am for AC classes and 11 am for non-AC classes.
During these short windows, a huge number of passengers simultaneously search for trains, check seats, enter passenger details and make payments.
Even a small technical problem can make a difference when confirmed seats are disappearing within seconds.
Online booking has also become the preferred option for most passengers.
Between June 2025 and June 2026, around 57.90 crore out of 65.08 crore reserved tickets were booked online, meaning nearly 89% of reserved tickets were booked digitally.
Ticket Capacity Could Rise to Over 1 Lakh Per Minute
One of the biggest parts of the upgrade is the strengthening of the infrastructure behind the NGeT platform.
IRCTC plans to improve its servers, storage, networking and software.
The existing system can handle around 37,000 tickets per minute. After the upgrade, the capacity is expected to eventually cross 1 lakh tickets per minute.
Around ₹150 crore has already been invested in the modernisation effort.
The aim is simple: allow the system to handle a much larger number of booking requests without slowing down or becoming unstable.
Backup System to Help During Outages
IRCTC is also developing an active-active disaster recovery system.
In simple terms, if one system faces a technical problem, another system can continue handling the traffic.
The backup infrastructure is planned at Secunderabad.
This could be especially important during Tatkal bookings.
A disruption of even one or two minutes can cause passengers to miss their chance of getting a confirmed ticket.
New IRCTC Website Is Already Being Tested
The technology upgrade is being accompanied by a redesigned IRCTC website.
A beta version was launched on July 15, 2026, with the aim of making the booking process simpler and faster.
The new website is designed to reduce unnecessary pop-ups and CAPTCHA interruptions.
It also allows users to save passenger details, which can reduce the amount of information they need to enter when booking future tickets.
Seat Availability Could Become Easier to Check
The redesigned website also offers a more convenient way to view seat availability.
Passengers can check availability across different classes from the same interface instead of repeatedly moving between different options.
This could make it easier to compare classes such as Sleeper, AC 3 Tier and AC 2 Tier before booking.
For Tatkal passengers, every second matters, so fewer steps could make the process more convenient.
IRCTC Is Also Targeting Bots and Unauthorised Agents
IRCTC is strengthening its systems to deal with suspicious and automated activity that can put additional pressure on the platform.
The checks are particularly important around the 8 am, 10 am and 11 am booking windows.
IRCTC is also using Akamai for bot mitigation and content delivery.
The aim is to prevent automated or suspicious traffic from consuming system resources that genuine passengers need.
The inactivity period for agent sessions has also been increased from 15 minutes to 30 minutes.
Will Tatkal Tickets Become Easier to Get?
The upgraded system could make Tatkal booking more reliable, but it does not mean confirmed tickets will suddenly become easier to get.
The number of available seats will remain limited.
If thousands of passengers are competing for a small number of seats, the competition will continue.
The main benefit is that passengers may face fewer technical problems while trying to complete their bookings.
A stronger system could reduce issues such as pages failing to load, sessions timing out and payment processes getting interrupted.
What Does the Upgrade Mean for Passengers?
IRCTC’s planned upgrade is aimed at keeping the ticket-booking system stable even when demand is extremely high.
Passengers can expect improvements such as:
Higher ticket-processing capacity
Stronger servers and network infrastructure
A backup system for handling outages
A redesigned website
Fewer unnecessary interruptions
Easier seat availability checks
Saved passenger details for faster bookings
Stronger protection against bots and suspicious activity
With online booking now accounting for nearly nine out of every ten reserved tickets, improving IRCTC’s technology has become increasingly important.
The biggest expected benefit is not necessarily more tickets, but a more stable and reliable booking experience when millions of passengers are trying to access the system at the same time.
