This could have been the happiest news all month to Indians all over the nation. Railway minister Pawan Kumar Bansal has announced that the IRCTC website would receive an upgrade that will allow it to be opened by as many as 120,000 users at any point of time which is thrice the present capacity.

This also would be reflected in the number of bookings that can be made per minute which would be increased from 2,000 to 7,200 every minute.

Traffic overload is what almost every user on IRCTC would experience if they were booking tickets. Booking Tatkal tickets online is a nightmare for passengers. "But with the new software, a next-generation system, booking rates will be higher, too," a senior official said.

We may see the entry of this new software by the end of this year and booking a ticket from 12.30am to 11.30pm, the peak hour, would be possible too. Passengers are being most hit with the touts illegally finding ways to get their hands on the tickets and selling to them at sky high prices. A mobile phone booking facility would also be brought into operation soon.

(AW- Anil)