Just like in airlines, now you can choose your seat when travelling by train

Indian Railways is all set to overhaul its passenger reservation system by introducing a suite of upgrades. It includes a key feature, under which the passengers will be allowed to select their preferred seat, similar to the practice followed by airlines.

According to a senior Railway Ministry official, the upcoming reservation system, which will be functional by the end of this year, will not only offer seat selection but also display a fare calendar, enabling users to make informed booking decisions.

“It also has integrated facilities for divyangjan, students, patients, etc.,” the official said.

He informed that the Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw had recently reviewed the progress of these reforms and emphasised the need for a “smart, transparent, accessible, and efficient” ticketing system.

As per Railway Ministry, one of the key operational improvements will be in the area of reservation charting.

"Currently prepared four hours before a train’s departure, reservation charts will now be finalised eight hours in advance," the official said. For trains scheduled to depart before 2 pm, charts will be readied the previous evening by 9 pm.

This will reduce uncertainty for passengers — especially those traveling from suburban or remote areas to catch long-distance trains — by providing early updates on waitlisted ticket statuses and enabling alternate travel arrangements when needed.

"This upgraded Modern Passenger Reservation System (PRS), being developed by the Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS), is expected to be fully operational by December this year," the official said.

He added that the new PRS is designed to be agile, scalable, and capable of handling up to 1.5 lakh bookings per minute, almost five times the current capacity. Enquiry capacity will also leap from 4 lakh to over 40 lakh per minute.

"The system will offer a multilingual, user-friendly interface to ensure broad accessibility," said the official.

In a move to enhance security and transparency in Tatkal bookings, Indian Railways will enforce user authentication from July 1. Only verified users will be allowed to book Tatkal tickets via the IRCTC website and mobile app.

The officer informed that an OTP-based authentication will be rolled out later in the month, with identification to be confirmed through Aadhaar or other government-issued IDs available in users’ DigiLocker accounts.