You can now check trains, seat availability on IRCTC without logging in

Now you need not log in to the IRCTC website if you just want to check the availability of seats in trains or to get information on trains between two stations, the Ministry of Railways said on Wednesday.

"In line with Union Minister of Railways Piyush Goyal's vision to ensure better user experience by recommending best Information Technology industry practices, Railway's Online Travel Portal - www.irctc.co.in -- has now launched beta version of its new User Interface," the ministry said in a release.

Highlighting the new features of the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) website, the Railway Ministry said: "With the launch of new interface of e-Ticketing Website, user can now enquire or search trains and check availability of seats without logging in also, thereby saving precious time of the users."

Earlier, a user was asked to log in before searching for any information on the IRCTC website.

The ministry also said that the new-look website would now have enhanced class-wise, train-wise, destination-wise, departure or arrival time-wise and quota-wise filters for facilitating customers while planning their journeys.

"Single screen information about the train including the train No., train name, originating and destination stations and distances between them, arrival and departure time and journey time has now been arranged," it said.

To enhance the customer's booking experience, interesting features like "Waitlist Prediction" have been introduced for the first time, said the railways.

"Using this feature, user can get the probability of a waitlisted or an RAC (reservation against cancellation) ticket getting confirmed," it said.

The Railway Ministry officials said that this technique uses algorithm based on historical booking trends of that particular train.

The new version has been developed by the Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS).

"This feature will add new value to the online e-ticket booking system of the railways," it said.

The railways said that a new attractive colour scheme for different trains with the facility to modify the journey details on the journey planner page itself will bring further ease of booking to the users.

According to IRCTC's 2016-2017 annual report, the ticketing platform on an average sold about 5.7 lakh e-tickets daily.

In addition, there are more features such as new filters on "My Transactions", where the user can also view his booked tickets based on journey date, booking date, upcoming journey and completed journey.

The railways also said the facility to find out availability up to the entire Advance Reservation Period i.e. 120 days at present, except for a few trains has also been provided.

In the new system, the user can also perform multiple activities through Booked Ticket History with improved interface for cancellation of tickets, printing of tickets, request for additional SMS, selecting alternative train by exercising the option of "Vikalp" and change of boarding point, if required.