Indian Railways has made a major change in the way Tatkal tickets are booked, which will help passengers and reduce fraud.
The Railway Ministry has said that from the end of this month, e-Aadhaar verification will be required to book Tatkal tickets.
This step has been taken to stop brokers, bots, and fake bookings so that regular passengers can get tickets more easily.
Important details about the new rule
Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw explained that Tatkal tickets, which are released a day before the train departs, are often grabbed within seconds by agents and bots, making it hard for common people to book them.
To fix this issue, e-Aadhaar verification is now being made compulsory.
Passengers who link their Aadhaar with their IRCTC account will get priority access in the first 10 minutes of Tatkal ticket sales.
Even authorized agents won’t be able to book tickets during this time.
Aadhaar needed for both online and offline bookings
Those who have not linked their IRCTC account with Aadhaar will need to wait three days after registering before they can book Tatkal, Premium Tatkal, or Opening ARP tickets.
Railway officials also said that Aadhaar may soon be mandatory at ticket counters too, so that both online and offline booking systems follow the same rules.
Railways’ new technology to improve booking
To improve Tatkal ticket booking, Railways has taken several technical steps.
An anti-bot system has been introduced, and the ministry has partnered with a major Content Delivery Network (CDN).
Earlier, around 50% of login attempts during Tatkal bookings were made by bots, but that number has now dropped a lot.
Now, 87% of static content is being served through CDN, which has made the website faster and reduced load on the server.
2.5 crore fake user IDs removed
Railways has also deactivated 2.5 crore suspicious user IDs. The average daily user logins have increased from 69.08 lakh to 82.57 lakh in the financial year 2024–25.
Daily ticket bookings have gone up by 11.85%. Now, 86.38% of all reserved tickets are booked online, showing a major move towards digital usage.
Advice for passengers
Indian Railways has requested passengers to link their IRCTC account with Aadhaar to make Tatkal booking easier.
If you notice any suspicious activity, you can report it on the cyber crime portal. This new system will not only make ticket booking easier but will also improve passenger safety.
