Railways Upgrades 40-Year-Old Reservation System; Minister Reviews Passenger Transition Plan

New Delhi, 8th May 2026: Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Thursday reviewed the transition process from Indian Railways’ four-decade-old reservation system to a newly upgraded digital platform and directed officials to ensure passengers do not face inconvenience during the migration.

Union Ministers of State for Railways V. Somanna and Ravneet Singh Bittu were also present at the meeting.

The existing reservation system, introduced in 1986, has undergone several incremental modifications over the years. Railways has now undertaken a comprehensive technological overhaul aimed at significantly expanding system capacity and improving passenger services.

Indian Railways began internet-based ticket booking in 2002, marking a major shift in passenger reservation services. Railway officials said online ticketing now accounts for nearly 88 per cent of the country’s total ticketing demand, reducing dependence on physical reservation counters.

The RailOne mobile application, launched in July last year, has emerged as a major digital platform for railway passengers. According to railway data, the application has crossed 3.5 crore downloads within a year of launch, including 3.16 crore downloads on Android devices and 33.17 lakh downloads on Apple’s iOS platform.

Railway officials said the application integrates multiple railway services including booking, cancellation and refunds for reserved, unreserved and platform tickets. The app also provides real-time train schedules, live train running status, platform details, coach positions and Rail Madad support services.

The RailOne app additionally offers AI-based waitlist confirmation prediction for reserved tickets. Railways stated that the accuracy of confirmation prediction has improved from 53 per cent earlier to 94 per cent after the introduction of the upgraded feature earlier this year.

Passengers can also order food through the application for seat delivery during train journeys.

According to official figures, around 9.29 lakh tickets are booked daily through the RailOne platform across the country, including 7.2 lakh unreserved tickets and 2.09 lakh reserved tickets. The unreserved category also includes platform tickets.

Indian Railways also stated that it provided a passenger subsidy of ₹60,239 crore during the financial year 2024–25. Officials said the subsidy translates into an average concession of 43 per cent on passenger fares, with tickets priced at ₹57 against an average service cost of ₹100.