Indian Railways to replace 40-year-old PRS with advanced technology-driven platform
New Delhi, 07 May (H.S.): Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Thursday directed officials to ensure that passengers do not face any inconvenience during the transition from the existing 40-year-old Passenger Reservation System (PRS) to the new advanced reservation platform scheduled for rollout from August.
The directions were issued during a high-level review meeting held at Rail Bhawan. Ministers of State for Railways V. Somanna and Ravneet Singh Bittu were also present during the meeting, which reviewed the implementation progress and capacity expansion of the new reservation system.
According to the Rail Ministry, the existing PRS, originally launched in 1986, has undergone several incremental upgrades over the past four decades. However, the system is now being comprehensively modernised using state-of-the-art technology with significantly enhanced operational capacity.
Indian Railways had introduced internet-based ticket booking services in 2002. At present, nearly 88 percent of all railway ticket bookings are made online, with passengers increasingly preferring digital platforms over physical ticket counters.
The ministry stated that the ‘RailOne’ mobile application is witnessing rapid adoption among passengers. Introduced in July 2025, the app has crossed over 3.5 crore downloads within less than a year.
The RailOne app offers several integrated services, including ticket booking, cancellations, refunds, unreserved and platform ticket booking, live train status tracking, coach and platform information, Rail Madad support services, and in-seat food delivery facilities.
Officials further informed that an Artificial Intelligence-based prediction system has been integrated into the platform to estimate waitlisted ticket confirmation chances. The ministry claimed that the prediction accuracy has improved from 53 percent to nearly 94 percent.
On average, around 9.29 lakh tickets are booked daily through the app, including approximately 7.2 lakh unreserved tickets and 2.09 lakh reserved tickets.
The Rail Ministry also highlighted that Indian Railways extended a subsidy of ₹60,239 crore on passenger fares during the financial year 2024-25, amounting to an average concession of nearly 43 percent per passenger. This effectively means that for every ₹100 spent on providing railway services, passengers paid only around ₹57.
(With inputs from H.S.) Inputs & Images courtesy: Hindusthan Samachar (H.S.)
Edited by: Dikshita Bollu
Last Updated on: Thursday, May 7, 2026 11:38 pm by Bollu Dikshitha | Published by: Bollu Dikshitha on Thursday, May 7, 2026 11:38 pm | News Categories: India
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