'Railways plans to upgrade ticketing capacity from 25K to 2.25 lakh per minute'

New Delhi: The railways plans to upgrade its capacity of issuing tickets from 25,000 to 2.25 lakh per minute and attending to enquiries from four lakh to 40 lakh per minute, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Friday.

At a press conference here, the minister also said a target has been set to lay new railway tracks for a distance of 7,000 kilometres in financial year 2023-24.

"We plan to improve the passenger reservation system's back-end infrastructure. At present, the capacity of ticketing is around 25,000 tickets per minute. The target is to upgrade it to 2.25 lakh per minute," he said.

"The capacity for attending to enquiries will also be upgraded from four lakh per minute to 40 lakh per minute," Vaishnaw added.

He also announced that "Jan Suvidha" convenience stores will be constructed at 2,000 railway stations across the country, which will remain open round the clock.

The 2022-23 target of laying railway tracks for a distance of 4,500 kilometres (12 kilometres per day) has already been achieved, the minister said, adding, "Before 2014, this used to be four kilometres per day. The railways has set a target of laying new railway tracks for a distance of 7,000 kilometres next year."