Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw held a review meeting with officials at Rail Bhawan on Thursday.
He issued directions to ensure that passengers do not face inconvenience during the transition of trains from the 40-year-old passenger reservation system (PRS) to the upgraded system.
Union Ministers of State for Railways, V. Somanna and Ravneet Singh Bittu were also present in the meeting.
Passenger Reservation System (PRS) for computerised ticketing
Started in 1986, this system has undergone several minor changes over the past 40 years. As on date, it has been completely overhauled, and its capacity expanded significantly.
In 2002, IR introduced internet-based ticketing. Today, the system is so popular that nearly 88 per cent of total ticketing demand in the country is fulfilled through online channels.
[The Minister had informed the Lok Sabha on March 25,2026 that 48.25 crore bookings were done via the online mode during the period April 2025- February 2026, whereas the number of tickets booked over-the counter was 6.15 crore for the same period].
RailOne mobile app
The RailOne mobile app launched in July last year has recorded over 3.5 crore downloads across the country in less than a year.
The app informs passengers about confirmation probability of waitlisted tickets using AI. The accuracy of waitlist confirmation prediction has increased from 53 per cent earlier to 94 per cent now.
The RailOne app integrates almost all railway services such as booking, cancellation, and refunds for reserved, unreserved, and platform tickets. It also provides real-time updates on ticket waiting status, train schedules, live train running status, platform information, and coach position. Also provided are passenger assistance services (Rail Madad) and online ordering of food during a journey.
Every day, 9.29 lakh tickets are booked through this app including 7.2 lakh unreserved / platform tickets and 2.09 lakh reserved tickets.
