IRCTC sells record 20L+ tickets in a day
What's the story
The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) has set a new record by selling over 20 lakh tickets in a single day. The milestone was achieved on September 7, amid increased demand for train travel ahead of the festive season. According to an NDTV report, a total of 20,06,353 tickets were booked on that day, the highest ever for the official railway ticketing platform.
Sustained demand
Peak travel season
The high booking trend continued on September 8, with nearly 20 lakh tickets booked. This was a 6% increase over last year's festive single-day record of 18,40,203 tickets.
IRCTC said that around 89% of all reserved railway tickets are now booked online.
To handle the increased demand and avoid platform crashes, the official train ticket booking platform has deployed new servers to nearly double its online reservation system's capacity.
User-friendly upgrades
New website launched in July
On July 15, 2026, IRCTC launched a new website and user interface.
The update allows passengers to check seat availability across different classes on a single screen, making the booking process smoother during peak times.
Despite handling record-high booking volumes, IRCTC has not reported any major glitches or service outages in its system.
Security measures
Measures against bots
IRCTC has stepped up its fight against unauthorized ticketing agents and bots that book tickets during peak hours.
The company says its advanced anti-bot system has reduced suspicious bot traffic by 55-65%.
To ensure fair access for genuine passengers, the platform has barred authorized ticketing agents from booking tickets during the first 10 minutes after reservations open.
Aadhaar verification is also mandatory for individual users booking tickets as soon as the reservation window opens.