Railway minister directs officials to ensure hassle-free upgrade of passenger reservation system

Today at Rail Bhawan, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw held a review meeting with officials and directed them to ensure that passengers face no inconvenience during the transition from the 40-year-old reservation system to the upgraded system, a press note from the ministry said.

Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Thursday directed officials to ensure upgradation of reservation system without causing any inconvenience to passengers. The Railway Ministry is working towards bringing necessary changes in the 40-year-old passenger seat reservation system to enhance its capacity and make it more convenient and easy to use. ''Today at Rail Bhawan, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw held a review meeting with officials and directed them to ensure that passengers face no inconvenience during the transition from the 40-year-old reservation system to the upgraded system,'' a press note from the ministry said. ''Started in 1986, this system has undergone several minor changes over the past 40 years. However, it has now been completely overhauled, and its capacity has been significantly expanded using state-of-the-art technology,'' it added. According to the ministry, the railway reservation system has witnessed several key milestones. Officials said that in 2002, Indian Railways introduced internet-based ticketing and today, the system is so popular that most people no longer approach ticket counters. ''Currently, nearly 88 per cent of the country's total ticketing demand is fulfilled through online channels,'' they added. Highlighting the utility of newly-introduced the RailOne mobile app, the ministry said that it is rapidly gaining popularity among passengers. ''It was launched in July last year. In less than a year, it has recorded over 3.5 crore downloads across the country,'' it stated. ''One of the biggest reasons for its popularity is that the app not only provides all railway-related information to the common man but also resolves complaints related to ticketing and other services,'' officials stated. The ministry informed that every day, 9.29 lakh tickets are booked through this app across the country, including 7.2 lakh unreserved tickets and 2.09 lakh reserved tickets. ''Unreserved tickets also include platform tickets. The RailOne app is widely appreciated on both Android and iOS platforms,'' the press note said. ''It has been downloaded 3.16 crore times from the Google Play Store and 33.17 lakh times on Apple devices,'' it added.