The Indian Railways have been functioning since the past 163 years, and have been India’s favourite public transport. To ensure a better experience to passengers in booking online tickets, the Indian Railways is revamping the website of the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC).
The Chairman of Railway Board, VK Yadav stated that the new website will be launched in August. “Passengers will have a much better experience when the new portal is launched. Artificial intelligence will be used to provide a better ticket booking experience for passengers. The AI will predict the booking pattern for passengers and suggest the best possible combination of trains available,” claimed Yadav.
It has been assured that the user experience on the website will not only become more simplified with the use of Artificial Intelligence, but will also be integrated with hotel and meal booking websites.
Geospatial mapping of the assets has already been completed, which includes overhead equipment, tracks, land plans and signaling system.
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed with Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to enable IRCTC track trains via satellites. This move will enable IRCTC in capturing the arrival, departure and moving times of trains in real-time.
In order to curb the spread of COVID-19, contactless ticket checking will be done by generating QR code tickets. This facility will be availed by both online and offline bookings. An application called CheckIn Master was also launched this week to conduct contactless ticket checking at stations.
The Indian Railways has been focusing on these technological advancements for quite some time now. In the beginning of this year, 20 innovations were decided to be incorporated to ensure more safety and comfort in rail journeys by railway employees. These include live CCTV monitoring inside coaches and announcements to alert passengers before a train departs, among several others.