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Question 17 of 29 · Industries & Transport in India
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Indian Railways started its first computerised passenger reservation system in New Delhi in:

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Answer: Option C — 1986

Detailed Solution

Indian Railways introduced its first computerised Passenger Reservation System (PRS) in New Delhi in November 1986. Before this, train tickets were booked manually using large charts and registers, which was slow and often led to errors and long queues.

About the computerised reservation system:

  • It was developed by the Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS), an organisation of the Ministry of Railways set up in 1986.
  • The first system, called "IMPRESS" (Integrated Multi-train Passenger Reservation System), allowed passengers to book tickets for any train from a single counter.
  • The system was gradually extended to Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and Secunderabad, and the five regional systems were later linked into a "Countrywide Network for Computerised Enhanced Reservation and Ticketing" (CONCERT).
  • Today, tickets can be booked at any PRS counter for any train from any station in India.

Later milestones of railway ticketing:

  • 1999: the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) was set up as a public sector undertaking.
  • 2002: IRCTC launched online ticket booking (e-ticketing) through its website.
  • 2005: e-tickets that could be printed at home (I-tickets were earlier sent by courier).
  • 2014: the UTS mobile app for unreserved tickets.
  • 2025: Indian Railways launched "RailOne", a single "super app" for all passenger services.
  • Tatkal booking: a scheme for last-minute bookings, started in 1997.
  • Today, the IRCTC website and app handle the largest number of online ticket transactions in the Asia-Pacific region.

Other railway "firsts":

  • First passenger train: Bori Bunder to Thane, 16 April 1853.
  • First electric train: Bombay VT-Kurla, 3 February 1925.
  • First metro: Kolkata, 24 October 1984.
  • First Vande Bharat Express: New Delhi-Varanasi, 2019.

Why not the other options?

  • ✗1975 is the year of the first Regional Rural Bank.
  • ✗1995 is the year of the first online newspaper in India (The Hindu).
  • ✗2002 is when IRCTC started online ticket booking.

Quick tip

Remember: First computerised rail reservation = New Delhi, 1986 (CRIS); IRCTC set up 1999; online e-ticketing = 2002; Tatkal = 1997.

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Industries & Transport in India — Preparation

This question tests your understanding of Industries & Transport in India, a key topic in the General Knowledge section. The detailed solution above uses a step-by-step approach to show the reasoning, and where available, a shortcut that helps you solve similar questions in under 90 seconds during the actual exam.

This topic covers India's major industries (iron and steel, textiles, cement, sugar, automobiles and information technology) and their locations, along with the transport network: railways, roads and national highways, ports, airports and waterways. Common questions ask where a steel plant is located and which country helped build it (Bhilai with the Soviet Union, Rourkela with Germany and Durgapur with Britain), which city is called the 'Manchester of India', and facts about major ports, railway zones and national highways. Practise the industries and transport questions below, written in the style of the general awareness sections of exams such as SSC, banking, railways, CUET GAT, MAH CET and CLAT. Each question comes with a detailed explanation that adds related facts, so every question helps you revise more than one point.

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