15 Facts About IRCTC

1.

IRCTC was established on 27 September 1999, as a public sector undertaking completely owned by the Government of India through the Indian Railways.

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2.

IRCTC introduced pantry cars inside long or medium distance trains which catered to passengers by serving freshly cooked food.

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3.

IRCTC has exclusive rights for onboard catering of food on all trains operated by the Indian Railways.

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4.

In 2014, IRCTC launched e-catering services which allowed passengers to order food from partner restaurants online or through phone call and have it delivered to their seats.

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5.

At major railway stations, IRCTC manages air-conditioned waiting lounges, retiring rooms and budget hotels in partnership with private entities.

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6.

IRCTC owns the bottled water brand "Rail Neer" which is sold on trains and railway stations among other places.

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7.

IRCTC operates several express trains as a "private player" in India.

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8.

In 2020, the IRCTC began operating India's first private train, the Tejas Express, from Lucknow to New Delhi.

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9.

IRCTC has been criticised for failing to maintain privacy of the data that it has collected on passengers for the purposes of bookings and travel, and there have been multiple reports of data leaks and exposures, as well as concerns that passenger information has been used by the government to send promotional content with demographic targeting.

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10.

The IRCTC denied the leak, but a committee consisting of officials from the IRCTC and Centre for Railway Information Systems was constituted to examine the report.

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11.

IRCTC officials claimed that the reports were unfounded and that there was no leak of "sensitive" passenger data.

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12.

In 2018, a security researcher, Avinash Jain, reported that a free travel insurance scheme offered by IRCTC, which caused users on their app to be redirected to a third party insurer, had left the information of approximately 200,000 passengers exposed for a period of two years.

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13.

IRCTC discontinued the insurance scheme and fixed the vulnerability that had left this data exposed.

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14.

In May 2020, the IRCTC made the use of the Government of India's COVID-19 tracker app, Aarogya Setu, mandatory, amidst concerns about the safety of data stored with the app.

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15.

IRCTC officials admitted that passenger booking data had been previously used without prior consent, for the purpose of promotional government messages.

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