IRCTC books record 20.06 lakh train tickets in a day amid festive rush
The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) recorded its highest-ever single-day ticket booking of over 20 lakh tickets. This surge is attributed to the festive season and recent system upgrades to the online booking platform.
Why it matters
It demonstrates the massive scale of digital infrastructure usage in India and the efficiency of modernized public service platforms.
The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) has set a new ticket booking record! Online booking of train tickets now accounts for 89% of total train ticket bookings on the Indian Railways network and this rush became evident when the festive season train ticket advance reservation window began.Indian Railways has recently reduced the advanced reservation window from 120 days to 60 days. With Diwali 2026 on 8th November 2026 this year, the 60 day period advance booking began this week.IRCTC sets 20 lakh ticket booking recordAccording to IRCTC, its website handled a huge rush on September 7, 2026. The ticket booking website registered its highest-ever single-day booking, with 20,06,353 tickets booked. The record was achieved amid festive-season ARP booking.The system continued to handle the heavy booking load the following day as well, with 19,50,699 tickets booked on September 8, 2026, IRCTC said.
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