Indian Railway Train Reservation Chart
Indian Railways to Upgrade Passenger Booking Experience ~ 01.07.2025
The railway board has proposed preparing the reservation chart eight hours before the departure.
Indian Railways is committed to enhancing the entire travel experience for passengers. A passenger’s journey begins with ticket reservation, and Indian Railways is taking several steps to make this process easier.
Improved Advanced Charting for Better Travel Certainty
- Currently, reservation charts are prepared four hours before train departure, causing uncertainty for passengers, especially those coming from nearby areas. This often leads to last-minute issues for passengers trying to catch the train.
- To resolve this, the Railway Board has proposed preparing reservation charts eight hours before departure.
- For trains departing before 2:00 PM, the chart will now be prepared at 9:00 PM on the previous day.
- Booking Time Restriction for Authorised Agents : To prevent bulk bookings during the critical opening period, authorised ticketing agents of Indian Railways will not be permitted to book opening-day Tatkal tickets during the first 30 minutes of the booking window. For AC classes, this restriction applies from 10:00 AM to 10:30 AM, and for non-AC classes, from 11:00 AM to 11:30 AM. These changes are being implemented to improve transparency in Tatkal bookings and to ensure that the benefits of the scheme reach genuine end users. CRIS and IRCTC have been instructed to make necessary system modifications and inform all Zonal Railways and concerned departments accordingly.
Modern Passenger Reservation System (PRS) by December 2025
The Railway Minister has reviewed the upgrade of the Passenger Reservation System, which is being implemented by CRIS.
The new PRS
- Agile, flexible, and scalable, capable of handling 10 times the current load.
- Booking capacity will increase from 32,000 to 1.5 lakh tickets per minute.
- Enquiry capacity will rise from 4 lakh to over 40 lakh enquiries per minute.
The system will include:
- A multilingual and user-friendly interface for booking and enquiries.
- Option for users to choose seats and view fare calendars.
- Integrated facilities for Divyangjan (differently-abled), students, and patients.
Streamlined Authentication for Tatkal Bookings
- From 1st July 2025, only authenticated users will be allowed to book Tatkal tickets on IRCTC’s website and mobile app.
- System-Based OTP Authentication at PRS Counters and Agents : From the end of July 2025, OTP-based authentication will also be implemented for Tatkal bookings. Tatkal tickets booked at computerised Passenger Reservation System (PRS) counters and through authorised agents will require OTP authentication sent to the mobile number provided by the user at the time of booking. This provision will also come into effect from 15th July 2025.
Authentication will be done using:
- Aadhaar : Starting 1st July 2025, Tatkal tickets booked through IRCTC’s official website and mobile app will be available only to users authenticated using Aadhaar. Additionally, from 15th July 2025 onwards, Aadhaar-based OTP authentication will be mandatory for all online Tatkal bookings.
- Or any verifiable government ID available in the user’s DigiLocker account.
First Reservation Chart to be released 8 hrs prior to departure of Train- Charting timings revised for passenger convenience.
Central Railway has announced a change in the timing of reservation chart preparation to improve passenger convenience and journey planning. Currently, reservation charts showing passenger names, coach, and berth details are prepared and released 4 hours before the train’s scheduled departure from the originating or remote station. However, as per the new guidelines from the Railway Board, starting from 10th July 2025, the First Reservation Chart will now be prepared 8 hours before the train’s scheduled departure, instead of the current 4 hours.
As per the revised charting time:
- For trains scheduled to depart between 05:00 hrs and 14:00 hrs, the First Reservation Chart will be prepared by 21:00 hrs of the previous day.
- For the trains with departure between 14:01 hrs to 16:00 hrs, first reservation chart will be prepared by 07:30 hrs on same day.
- For the trains with departure between 16:01 hrs to 23.59 hrs and 00.00 hrs to 05:00 hrs, first reservation chart will be prepared by 08 hours in advance of scheduled departure.
- There will be no change in the existing procedure for the second reservation chart, which shall continue as per extant provisions.
- The Final Reservation Chart will continue to be prepared 30 minutes before the scheduled departure of the train.
