Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) in an effort to provide better service to customer had announced further streamlining the delivery of train tickets under Tatkal Scheme. Under the new policy by IRCTC which would be implemented from 10th July 2012, Tatkal tickets reservation will start only at 10.00 AM on the previous day of journey from train originating station instead of current 08.00 AM.
Also in a move to enable maximum users to book Tatkal Tickets, IRCTC has decided that no authorized agents, including agents of IRCTC and RTSAs/RTAs will be allowed to book Tatkal tickets from 10.00 AM to 12.00 AM from counters as well as from Internet. Other steps brought by IRCTC to streamline Tatkal ticket bookings includes –
- IRCTC has installed new high-capacity Database servers for their website and increased the Internet Bandwidth backbone from 344 mbps to 450 mbps.
- Single user registration on one e-mail ID with email verification has been implemented and Mobile validation of users and single user registration on one mobile number has been implemented.
- Authorized agents, including agents of IRCTC and RTSAs/RTAs will permitted to book only one Tatkal ticket per train per day on internet after 12.00 A.M.
- Individual users are permitted to book only two tickets between 10.00 A.M. to 12.00 A.M.
- Only two tickets can be booked per IP address between 10.00 A.M. to 12.00 A.M.IP address check has helped in preventing multiple bookings from same office complex/internet café etc. This also helps in facilitating bookings by genuine users and prevents bookings for commercial gains.
- Single session per user ID check has been implemented. With this step, a user on irctc.co.in will be able to open his account for booking of e-tickets only once. Multiple sessions with single user ID cannot be opened thereby enabling maximum users to access website and reduce congestion.
- Captcha technology has been put and strengthened for booking in the ‘Plan My Travel’ to check fraudulent booking through automation software.
- Quick Book Option and Cash Cards option has been stopped between 10.00 A.M. to 12.00 A.M.
- An IT-Anti Fraud Squad has been created at Internet Ticketing Centre to detect cases of fraud and fraudulent activity and also for constant cyberspace surveillance to detect possible threats to the system.
- Upon receipt of complaint against the sub-agent, the user –id is deactivated and the sub-agent is black-listed. The details of the black-listed agent are put on the IRCTC website. All the Principal Agents have been instructed not to take on such black-listed agents.
- For any complaint, against the e-ticket agents, one may contact [email protected] (011-23745962) or [email protected] (011-39340000)
The Ministry of Railways in coordination with IRCTC and CRIS has initiated short-term and long-term measures to augment e-ticket handling capacity of its website. By this steps, the present e-ticket capacity will increase from existing about 3.5 lakh bookings to around 5 lakh bookings per day in about four months period in the short-term which will further be increased to about 8 lakh bookings per day in the long-term plan.