For years, the ticketing interface of the Indian Railways has drawn persistent complaints, often accused of being slow, bugs-infested and unreliable. So much so that the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), which powers e-ticketing through its website, regularly finds itself on the defensive in the court of social media. “At peak hour of ticket booking, say 8 am, it’s pure luck if the booking request goes through at first attempt,” says Avik Banerjee, a Kolkata-based medical representative who travels frequently by train within West Bengal. “The queues at the counters are slow, the server is sometimes down, and by the time it restarts, confirmed tickets are sold out.” This is a familiar pain point for anyone who has ever tried booking a railway ticket in India. That, at last, is about to change.
