Daijiworld Media Network - New Delhi
New Delhi, Sep 11: The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) has recorded its highest-ever single-day online train ticket bookings, with 20,06,353 tickets sold on September 7, 2026, according to a statement.
The surge came as the advanced reservation period (ARP) opened for the festive season. With Diwali falling on November 8 and Indian Railways having reduced the advance booking window from 120 days to 60 days, demand rose sharply this week.
The following day, September 8, also witnessed strong demand, with 19,50,699 tickets booked, the statement said.
Online bookings now account for around 89 per cent of all reserved tickets on the Indian Railways network. The previous festive-season peak was 18,40,203 tickets booked in a single day last year.
IRCTC attributed the record performance to major capacity upgrades. A revamp of the Next Generation e-Ticketing (NGeT) system roughly doubled overall infrastructure capacity through the addition of new servers, software optimisation and architectural improvements.
The platform has handled between 1.33 crore and 1.74 crore logins on peak ARP opening days while processing 17-20 lakh bookings, the statement said.
Additional measures have also helped manage the heavy traffic. A beta version of a redesigned user interface, launched on July 15, 2026, features a modern layout influenced by design trends such as glassmorphism.
The new interface displays availability across classes, including Sleeper, AC 3 Tier and AC 2 Tier, on a single screen, making it easier for passengers to compare options.
IRCTC has also deployed anti-BOT tools that have reduced malicious traffic by 55-65 per cent in recent months. A content delivery network (CDN) has been introduced to ease pressure on the core system.
Only Aadhaar-authenticated users are permitted to book during the opening ARP window, while authorised agents are barred from making bookings during the first 10 minutes, from 8 a.m. to 8.10 a.m.
Data showed that the first 15 minutes of the booking window continue to witness the highest concurrent demand. However, more than 85 per cent of daily bookings take place later in the day.
As part of measures to curb misuse, IRCTC has deactivated 3.04 crore user IDs and placed 6.33 crore IDs under revalidation. It has also blocked 16,041 suspicious email domains and filed 592 cybercrime complaints covering 4.21 lakh suspicious PNRs, the statement added.