IRCTC, an extended arm of the Indian Railways announces a new conversational and convenient feature to book your railway tickets using their chatbot AskDISHA 2.0. The feature enables customers to interact with the system via voice, chat and click based system. Additionally, the system requires no passwords but will work based on the One Time Password (OTP) sent to your mobile number.  

The technology is powered by CoRover a conversational AI Platform which is being used by 1 billion+ users. Now, the improved Virtual Assistant, AskDISHA 2.0 has many features like booking tickets, checking PNR status, canceling tickets, changing boarding station, checking refund status, answering any travelers’ queries like Tatkal timings, and much more.

Rajini Hasija, CMD, IRCTC said, “In our constant pursuit to enhance the user experience, leveraging new age technologies, we are today taking a giant leap. Now a passengers can book their train ticket in a conversational manner, leveraging our AI Virtual Assistant, AskDISHA 2.0, powered by CoRover Conversational AI platform. This is a landmark initiative to enhance our passengers experience with an easy and quick way to book their train tickets. First time, the users can book ticket without knowing their IRCTC password, it will be possible just with an OTP.”

She further added “AskDISHA 2.0 has proven to be a very effective instrument, and the addition of voice booking will make it even easier for travellers to plan their trips. We expect at least 25% of our clients to switch to this option in the future and also attracting new users who want to book their tickets using the conversational tool rather than chatting. CoRover has always engaged with us in our efforts to improve and enhance customer service.”

The Indian Railways, under the leadership of the Hon’ble Minister for Railways and IT have been undergoing massive technological revolution in pursuance of Hon’ble Prime Minister’s vision of ‘Digital India’, ‘Made in India’ and ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ to ensure that the world looks upon India as a self-reliant country and as an innovator of various technologies for making life better.

Under the aegis of the present government, the Indian Railways, being one of the largest rail networks of the world have been achieving new milestones of transformation every day in various spheres for improving the travel experience of the passengers.

The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Ltd. (IRCTC), the professional catering and tourism arm of Railways and also the owner of one of the largest e-commerce and ticketing website in Asia-pacific, was one of the premiere organizations in the country to develop and apply latest customer facilitation solutions in its internet ticketing site and mobile app in the form of AI powered chatbots and virtual assistants using the technologies of Machine Learning (ML) and Natural Language Processing (NLP) in addition to AI. The ‘ASK DISHA’ chatbot which has been performing the important functions of handling queries of the passengers with respect to their travel over 3 years now has helped to improve the customer satisfaction and interaction by more than 70%. Now. with the new avatar of IRCTC’s Chatbot AskDISHA 2.0, users can not only get authentic, correct and instant answers to their queries that saves time and enhances the user experience, but also help them do the real time transactions end-to-end, including booking, cancellation and much more.

Earlier the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) had announced that it has partnered with a national award-winning start-up, CoRover.ai, to co-sell and resell their artificial intelligence (AI), driven products and services like Chatbots, VoiceBots, VideoBots and Virtual Assistants to both the government and private organizations in India and abroad.