FOver the years, there have been frequent complaints over the Indian Railways’ ticketing interface, which is often accused of being slow, bug-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 front of social media. “At the peak time of ticket booking, say 8 a.m., it is pure luck if the booking request is successful in the first attempt,” says Avik Banerjee, a medical representative from Kolkata who frequently travels by train in West Bengal. “The queues at the counter are slow, the server sometimes goes down, and by the time it restarts, the confirmed tickets are sold out.” This is a familiar problem to anyone who has ever tried to book a railway ticket in India. Finally, this is about to change.

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