Chennai, Sept 16:
The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) has set a new record by booking more than 20 lakh train tickets through its website in a single day, amid heavy demand for travel during the upcoming festive season.
A total of 20,06,353 tickets were booked online on September 7, marking the highest-ever single-day booking figure in IRCTC’s history. The surge followed the opening of 60-day advance reservations for Diwali travel on September 5. Diwali will be celebrated on November 8 this year.
The previous record was around 18.40 lakh tickets booked on August 19, 2025. Around 19,50,699 tickets were booked on September 8 this year, about six per cent higher than the corresponding festive-season figure recorded last year.
IRCTC said the heaviest booking activity is normally witnessed during the first 15 minutes after advance reservations open at 8 am. However, only around 8.43 to 14.14 per cent of the day’s total bookings take place between 8 am and 9 am, with most bookings being made during the subsequent hours.
To handle the heavy traffic, IRCTC has upgraded its technical infrastructure and deployed new servers, reportedly doubling system performance and speed. Despite the huge volume of bookings, the website did not face any major technical problems or outages.
The corporation has also stepped up action against illegal ticket-booking activities. It said fake online bookings had declined by 55 to 65 per cent following the measures. Around 3.04 crore fake user accounts have been blocked, while 6.33 crore accounts have undergone re-verification.
Authorised agents have also been barred from booking tickets during the first 10 minutes after reservations open, between 8 am and 8.10 am. Around 89 per cent of reserved train tickets in India are currently booked online, underlining the growing dependence on digital ticketing services