Shifting of Trains to the Upgraded Passenger Reservation System to Begin in August

Today at Rail Bhawan, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw held a review meeting with officials and issued directions to ensure that passengers do not face any inconvenience during the transition of trains from the 40-year-old reservation system to the upgraded system. Union Ministers of State for Railways, V. Somanna and Ravneet Singh Bittu were also present in the meeting.

Started in 1986, this system has undergone several minor changes over the past 40 years. However, now it has been completely overhauled, and its capacity has been significantly expanded using state-of-the-art technology.

The railway reservation system has witnessed several key milestones. In 2002, Indian Railways introduced internet-based ticketing. Today, the system has become so popular that most people no longer approach ticket counters. Currently, nearly 88% of total ticketing demand in the country is fulfilled through online channels.

The RailOne mobile app is rapidly gaining popularity among passengers. It was launched in July last year. In less than a year, it has recorded over 3.5 crore downloads across the country.

One of the biggest reasons for its popularity is that the app not only provides all railway-related information to the common man but also resolves complaints related to ticketing and other services.

Every day, 9.29 lakh tickets are booked through this app across the country, including 7.2 lakh unreserved tickets and 2.09 lakh reserved tickets. Unreserved tickets also include platform tickets. The RailOne app is widely appreciated on both Android and iOS platforms. It has been downloaded 3.16 crore times from the Google Play Store and 33.17 lakh times on Apple devices.

For passengers in the country, Indian Railways is a lifeline. In 2024–25, Indian Railways provided a subsidy of ₹60,239 crore on passenger tickets. This is equivalent to an average discount of 43% for every railway passenger. In other words, if the cost of providing the service is ₹100, the ticket price is only ₹57.(updated on 7th may 2026)