The everyday hassles of booking a train ticket are finally set to ease. The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) has taken the beta version of its brand-new website live. It has been built to be noticeably faster, simpler and more user-friendly than the old one. The most interesting part is that student suggestions were folded into shaping its design and features. For now it has arrived as a trial, and the final version will be polished further based on the feedback passengers send in.
A fresh look and a clean interface
The whole layout has been reworked so that a traveller of any age or comfort level with technology can book a ticket without getting lost. Gone are the heavy, unnecessary graphics and the confusing options that used to clutter the screen. The page stays clean, keeping the focus squarely on the task the user came to do. As a result, the entire booking flow now takes fewer steps and far less time than before.
Four features that change how you book
- Goodbye captchas and pop-ups: While booking a ticket, passengers will no longer have to battle irritating captchas, needless pop-ups, flashing graphics and distracting advertisements. That means fewer interruptions mid-booking.
- Seat availability at a glance: How many seats are free across every class will now be laid out clearly in one place, so travellers no longer have to hunt for it in different spots.
- Superfast checkout: The number of booking steps has been cut down sharply, which means a ticket can be confirmed in moments and the long-winded process is behind you.
- Effortless repeat booking: Passenger details such as name and age will stay saved on the site, so there is no need to punch in the same information over and over the next time you book.
A new reservation system is on the way
Railways has said the website has been put out purely as a trial for now. The suggestions passengers offer will form the basis for further improvements. In the coming weeks the website will also be linked to the new Passenger Reservation System. Once that happens, ticket booking will become quicker and considerably more reliable.
Student feedback reshaped IRCTC's face
The IRCTC website first went live back in 2002 and today ranks among the largest ticket booking portals in the world. On an average day, roughly 14.5 lakh tickets are booked through this single platform. The push to give such a huge and popular website a new avatar began when students of the Malaviya National Institute of Technology (MNIT) put forward several key suggestions during a meeting with Rail Minister Ashwini Vaishnav. The students were then made part of the entire design process, and it is on the strength of their feedback that this new trial version has taken shape.
