Tatkal Ticket Booking: Indian Railways has made a major change to the rules regarding train ticket booking. If you are planning to book train tickets for Diwali or Chhath, you should be aware of these rules, otherwise you may face problems getting a confirmed ticket. In fact, the Railways has also made Aadhaar mandatory for booking general reservation train tickets. Under the new rule, only those with Aadhaar verification will be able to book tickets online within the first 15 minutes after reservations open. Until now, this rule only applied to Tatkal ticket bookings, but now it will apply to both general and Tatkal reservations.
This rule for ticket reservations will apply to both the IRCTC website and app, while for those purchasing tickets from computerized PRS counters, the rules remain unchanged. However, starting October 1st, Aadhaar-verified accounts will receive priority for general reservations. For the first 15 minutes, bookings will not be approved for anyone other than a verified Aadhaar account.
Why was this rule changed?
The Railways changed this rule to prevent fraud in ticket booking and ensure tickets are only available to verified users. By limiting online booking to Aadhaar-authenticated users, Indian Railways aims to bring transparency to ticket allocation. Furthermore, it aims to reduce bulk booking.
What did the Railways say in the circular?
The Indian Railway Board stated in its order that to ensure the benefits of the reservation system reach the general user and prevent its misuse by ticket brokers, Aadhaar authentication is being implemented for reservation ticket booking. Beginning October 1st, only Aadhaar-authenticated users will be able to book reserved general tickets through the IRCTC website or app during the first 15 minutes of the general reservation opening. It’s worth noting that this Aadhaar authentication rule has been in effect for Tatkal ticket bookings since July. Following this rule, the Tatkal ticket booking process has become much easier. Furthermore, confirmed tickets are now easier to obtain than before.
Book your ticket like this
Typically, you book tickets on Tatkal. Sometimes, due to slow network speeds, the session times out while entering details. Therefore, it’s important to save the information for the Tatkal ticket you’re booking beforehand, so you don’t have to re-enter it. Therefore, log in to your IRCTC account in advance and save your passenger and payment details. This will save you time during booking and increase your chances of getting a confirmed ticket. This method can be very useful during Diwali and Chhath.