IRCTC Logs Record 20 Lakh Ticket Bookings in a Day as Festive Demand Peaks
IRCTC recorded its highest-ever single-day bookings on September 7 with over 20 lakh tickets, as festive demand surged and the platform expanded capacity.
The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) has logged its highest-ever single-day ticket bookings, with more than 20 lakh tickets sold on September 7 amid a festive-season surge in demand.
A total of 20,06,353 tickets were booked through the platform that day — the first time the daily figure has crossed the 20-lakh mark. Demand stayed elevated the next day, with 19,50,699 tickets booked on September 8. That figure is six per cent higher than the peak single-day booking of last year's festive season, when 18,40,203 tickets were sold.
Online bookings now make up around 89 per cent of all reserved railway tickets, IRCTC said. To absorb the rising volume, the platform has deployed new servers that nearly double the capacity of its online booking system.
A revamped website and user interface, launched on July 15, 2026, allows passengers to check seat availability across different classes on a single screen.
Alongside the capacity upgrade, IRCTC has stepped up its crackdown on bots and fraudulent booking activity. Its anti-bot system has cut suspicious bot traffic by 55 to 65 per cent, the platform said.
Under the revised rules, authorised ticket agents are barred from booking during the first ten minutes after the reservation window opens, between 8 am and 8:10 am. Aadhaar verification is also mandatory for users booking tickets when the window opens.
As part of its action against fraudulent activity, IRCTC has deactivated 3.04 crore user IDs, while 6.33 crore IDs have been flagged for re-verification.
Despite the record volumes, IRCTC said the new booking system did not experience any major glitch or outage.