How's the New Indian Railways Website
India’s domestic airlines can’t stop offering online discounts and flash sales to get more Indians to book their flight tickets, but the real winner in the country’s online travel sector last year has been the Indian Railways.
Between March 2013 and March 2014, online and mobile bookings for the railways rose a staggering 300%, making it the fastest growing sector in online travel in India, according to Euromonitor International’s World Travel Market report (PDF).
Although much of this growth has come on the back of online travel retailers like Cleartrip and Yatra, the report notes, the secret for the Indian Railways’ strong online performance has been a thorough overhauling of its booking website.
For long, Indian Railways’ online ticket booking platform—run by the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC)—crashed, stalled and spluttered so often that it became a test of patience for customers, instead of a convenience.
But after it was revamped earlier this year, services seem to have drastically improved. The website’s reservation capacity more than trebled from 2,000 tickets per minute to 7,000 tickets per minute.
That’s helped the railways boost their online bookings as “part of a larger innovation effort led by IRCTC to compete with low-cost carriers in the country on a number of key routes,” the report said.
Other upgraded services included a downloadable mobile app for bookings, train schedules and real-time train status updates, a limited feature to pay for tickets in monthly instalments, and bookings through SMS messaging for those who have linked their mobile phone number to their bank account.
In all, the Indian Railways has spent about Rs10.5 crore ($1.7 million) on the improvements.
But there are indications that the railways could witness a decline in passenger volume on its 64,460 kilometer-long network for the first time in many years. Passenger traffic contributes about 27% to the Indian Railways’ total earnings. more
Between March 2013 and March 2014, online and mobile bookings for the railways rose a staggering 300%, making it the fastest growing sector in online travel in India, according to Euromonitor International’s World Travel Market report (PDF).
Although much of this growth has come on the back of online travel retailers like Cleartrip and Yatra, the report notes, the secret for the Indian Railways’ strong online performance has been a thorough overhauling of its booking website.
For long, Indian Railways’ online ticket booking platform—run by the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC)—crashed, stalled and spluttered so often that it became a test of patience for customers, instead of a convenience.
But after it was revamped earlier this year, services seem to have drastically improved. The website’s reservation capacity more than trebled from 2,000 tickets per minute to 7,000 tickets per minute.
That’s helped the railways boost their online bookings as “part of a larger innovation effort led by IRCTC to compete with low-cost carriers in the country on a number of key routes,” the report said.
Other upgraded services included a downloadable mobile app for bookings, train schedules and real-time train status updates, a limited feature to pay for tickets in monthly instalments, and bookings through SMS messaging for those who have linked their mobile phone number to their bank account.
In all, the Indian Railways has spent about Rs10.5 crore ($1.7 million) on the improvements.
But there are indications that the railways could witness a decline in passenger volume on its 64,460 kilometer-long network for the first time in many years. Passenger traffic contributes about 27% to the Indian Railways’ total earnings. more
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railway the center of one india , where people really enjoy the diversity, unreserved compartments are really less in long distance express train, where people have to stand in a Q under the close observation of RPF, still they fight, reservation system cant we improve by providing best corruption free process? still we can find that DALAL are operative at the very railway stations and making money , cheating people. Railway should focus on 1.safety, 2. reservation system, 3. cleanliness of train, and train timings. more
Nov 11
Good Statistics. But need too many improvements like: Entry to Stations/Platforms should be limited to passengers or with platform ticket only - Our local trains or long distance trains stings, dirty fans, dirty windows - no proper maintenance, inspite of so much of staff - privatise cleaning & maintenance part Penalty/Fine on throwing litter in compartments or paltforms Ticket booking via agents should be properly channelised - no booking without PAN Card / Aadhar Card of ticket holder, we don't want unemploy ticket agents but should put curb on fake bookings. TC will be having list with booking proof details i.e. PAN No. or Aadhar card, real ticket holder can easily be identified else thrown out of train for not carrying identity proof. more
Nov 09
I would like to point out two things 1. There is no provision for change of baording once the tickets have been booked. We have to go and stand in long lines for this. 2. By booking tickets online we reduce the paper work, involvement of railway staff but we are charged extra for this service. more
Nov 09
Inspite of all the growth story and rise in revenue the profitability for this giant organisation has always been a distant dream. There is enough scope to provide hygienic and safe railway travel in India. Bureaucratic approach to constructive road to recovery has been a bane for our great country. Isn't it a shame that we have ask China and Japan to help us out with our railways when the best of Indian engineers are suppose to be available to improve our country. Who prevents them? There are many who want to contribute. They can and they will provided the doors are open for them to actually give to the country they were born in. more
Nov 09
