New Delhi: The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) recorded its highest-ever single-day ticket bookings on September 7, with more than 20 lakh tickets booked as demand for train travel surged ahead of the festive season.
A total of 20,06,353 tickets were booked through the IRCTC platform on September 7, marking the first time its daily booking figure crossed the 20-lakh milestone.
The demand remained strong the following day, with 19,50,699 tickets booked on September 8. The September 7 figure was around six per cent higher than the previous festive-season record of 18,40,203 tickets recorded last year.
IRCTC said nearly 89 per cent of reserved railway tickets are now booked online, highlighting the growing dependence on digital ticketing. To manage the increasing traffic, additional servers have been deployed, nearly doubling the capacity of the online reservation system.
The corporation also introduced a redesigned website and user interface on July 15, allowing passengers to check seat availability across different travel classes on a single screen.
Alongside expanding capacity, IRCTC has strengthened measures against automated bots and fraudulent booking activity. Its anti-bot system has reportedly reduced suspicious bot traffic by between 55 and 65 per cent.
To prevent authorised ticket agents from gaining an early advantage, agents are barred from booking tickets during the first 10 minutes after the reservation window opens, from 8 am to 8:10 am. Aadhaar verification is also mandatory for passengers booking tickets when the reservation window opens.
As part of its wider action against suspicious activity, IRCTC has deactivated 3.04 crore user IDs, while another 6.33 crore accounts have been flagged for re-verification.
Despite the unprecedented booking volumes, IRCTC said the upgraded online ticketing system continued to function without any major technical glitch or outage, allowing passengers to access the platform during the peak festive booking period.
