Railway e-ticketing system to process 7,200 tickets a minute

The rail budget for 2013-14, which was announced by Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal, stresses on enhancing the current e-ticketing mechanism manifold. The new e-ticketing system will enable booking of about 7,200 tickets per minute as opposed to 2,000 a minute now.

The new system is proposed to be in place by 2013-end, according to the minister.

This will be possible since the "new e-ticketing system will be able to bear the load of simultaneous login of 1,00,000 users. The present capacity stands at 40,000," Bansal stated while presenting the budget.

Other 'promised' features include free wifi on select trains and allowing e-ticketing via mobile phones. The internet booking timings would also be extended to 1130 p.m, Bansal stated.

Commuters are also likely to get SMS alerts on reservation status soon. Last year, IRCTC allowed SMS sent by IRCTC while booking to be used as a ticket.

(Edited by Prem Udayabhanu)