From July, no Tatkal railway ticket booking without Aadhaar authentication

Along with the online ticket booking system, the new rule will be applied on counter tickets as well. “Tatkal tickets shall be available for booking through computerised PRS (passenger reservation system) counters of Indian Railways/authorised agents only after authentication of a system generated OTP which shall be sent through the system on the mobile number furnished by the user at the time of booking. This shall also be implemented by 15.07.2025,” said the circular further.

According to the new rule, the authorised ticketing agents of the Indian Railways shall not be allowed to book tatkal tickets during the first 30 minutes of opening of booking for AC as well as non-AC travel classes. It means the agents will not be allowed to book tatkal tickets from 10 am to 10.30 am for air-conditioned classes and from 11 am to 11.30 am for non-air conditioned classes.

The Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS), the technological wing of the Indian Railways, and IRCTC have been asked to make necessary modification in the system accordingly under intimation to all zonal railways.

According to the data available with the Ministry of Railways, every day, around 2,25,000 passengers book Tatkal tickets through the online platform of the Indian Railways.

An analysis of the online Tatkal ticket booking pattern from May 24 to June 2 by the Railways shows that on an average 5,615 out of 1,08,000 AC class tickets were booked in the first minute after the window opened. A total of 22,827 tickets were booked in the second minute. In the AC class, an average of 67,159 tickets or 62.5 per cent of Tatkal tickets daily were booked online within the first 10 minutes of the window opening. The remaining 37.5 per cent tickets were booked between 10 minutes till chart preparation, out of  which 3.01 per cent of Tatkal tickets were booked after 10 hours of the window opening.

In the non-AC category, from May 24 to June 2, an average of 1,18,567 tickets were booked online daily. Of these, 4,724 tickets — about 4 per cent — were booked within the first minute, while 20,786 tickets — about 17.5 per cent — were booked in the second minute. Approximately 66.4 percent of tickets were sold within the first 10 minutes after the window opened and the rest of the tickets were booked after that.

A senior official of the Ministry of Railways said that the proposal for the e-Aadhaar authentication system is part of the campaign against the use of automated tools to book tickets online.