Indian Railways Digital Rail achievements: 11 IRCTC initiatives in FY18

The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) in fiscal year FY18 took various initiatives on multiple occasion in order to boost Indian Railways services for citizens. The catering service provider made train travelling easier right from tatkal tickets to reserved ones. Not only this, the IRCTC also enhanced cab services, catering services and also air travelling services. Indian Railways has been boosting digitization too. Which is why they even introduced ticket booking benefits if done through Aadhaar cards. Today, IRCTC took to Twitter to list its digital achievements. On its handle, IRCTC listed out 11 initiatives in FY18 with a tagline of Digital India, Digital Railway. 

IRCTC said, “The new initiatives taken by IRCTC for Indian Railways Users includes modernisation of base kitchens, enhancement of ticket booking from 2,000 to 20,000 tkts/min, POS machines for cashless transactions, use of Artificial Intelligence for kitchen monitoring  etc.  #RailwaysOnTrack.”

The new initiatives taken by IRCTC for Indian Railways Users includes modernisation of base kitchens, enhancement of ticket booking from 2,000 to 20,000 tkts/min, POS machines for cashless transactions, use of Artificial Intelligence for kitchen monitoring etc. #RailwaysOnTrack pic.twitter.com/tHLCriRPL1

— IRCTC (@IRCTCofficial) June 11, 2018

These are the 11 key developments IRCTC achieved for Indian Railways in FY18. 

High speed wi-fi service at more than 675 stations. Soon all stations will have this service as well. This will benefit youth, women, farmers and villagers in nearby locations. 

Point of sale (POS) machines for cashless transactions. For this 9,100 POS were installed at about 4,000 locations. Soon POS machines will implement a compulsory bill called as ‘No Bill, Free Food’ policy. 

Capacity of e-ticketing from 2000 per minute in 2014 has reached to 20,000 per minute in 2018. 

Service charge on credit and debit cards for purchasing tickets at booking counters removed.

Passengers grievances resolved in real time through social media. 

16 base kitchen already upgraded in 2017-18. IRCTC has made use of Artificial Intelligence for monitoring food production in base kitchens for improving quality and hygiene of food. 

More than 7000 meals per day are getting booked. IRCTC started e-catering at 314 stations and 100 more planned. 

Compulsory printing of MRP on all food items started on more than 300 trains. 

Asking for tips banned across Railways. 

Optional catering introduced at 32 Rajdhani, Shatabdi, Duronto and Gatiman trains. 

1,689 water vending machines installed at 600 stations. 

Recently, Indian Railways decided to revamp e-ticketing website Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) with various features, which will make train ticket bookings even easier going ahead.