State-owned IRCTC has enhanced its digital and AI-driven services in catering, ticketing, and passenger operations, managing a significant volume of passengers and boosting automation in key railway functions.
The company oversees catering in over 1,400 trains, including prestigious services like Vande Bharat Express, Rajdhani Express, and Shatabdi Express, serving approximately 58 crore meals annually across the Indian Railways network.
IRCTC employs technology to monitor the catering ecosystem, with more than 800 kitchens tracked using AI-driven cameras linked to a centralized control system for real-time compliance and quality assurance.
The e-catering service, available at 425 stations, saw an average of over 1.20 lakh daily orders in 2025-26, peaking at around 1.84 lakh meals on a single day in October 2025.
Additionally, the e-pantry service, introduced gradually since March 2025, recorded about 1.23 lakh meal bookings on select Mail and Express trains.
IRCTC supplied 22 lakh meals on over 400 election special trains for central forces during the Assembly Elections 2026, marking a significant achievement.
In the digital ticketing realm, IRCTC platforms accounted for 89% of reserved ticket bookings in 2025-26, with an average of 14.53 lakh tickets reserved daily.
The company witnessed a peak of 37,410 tickets booked per minute on August 16, 2025, and a daily high of 18.40 lakh tickets on August 19, 2025, showcasing the popularity of its digital ticketing services.
IRCTC operates 19 Rail Neer bottling plants with a daily capacity of 18.40 lakh bottles, ensuring a steady supply of packaged drinking water.
Utilizing AI systems for various functions like anti-bot protection in ticketing and anomaly detection in food preparation, IRCTC deactivated over 3 crore suspicious user IDs in 2025 and blocked 13,343 suspicious email domains to combat fraud effectively.
The Integrated Railway Helpline (IRHES-139), supported by IVRS, ASR, and NLP technologies, handles approximately 2.2 lakh calls daily in 13 languages, enhancing customer service and support.
