From Oct 1, only Aadhaar-authenticated users can book online tickets for first 15 mins
The railways said the change was being incorporated to ensure that the benefits of the reservation system are not misused by unscrupulous elements
NEW DELHI:From October 1, only people who have been authenticated using Aadhaar will be able to book reserved general tickets online during the first 15 minutes of opening of online general reservation on the IRCTC website and mobile app, the railways said in a statement on Monday.
The railways said the change was being incorporated to ensure that the benefits of the reservation system reach the end user and are not misused by unscrupulous elements.
“Our focus is to ensure fair access to tickets and deliver the benefits of the scheme to genuine users. We had earlier introduced measures only for Tatkal booking, but with this step, the focus is to give just an opportunity to all genuine passengers,” a railways ministry official said.
From July 1, only Aadhaar-authenticated users have been able to book online tickets under the Tatkal scheme. From July 15, the railways introduced an OTP-based authentication at passenger reservation system (PRS) counters and for authorised agents for booking Tatkal tickets.
Monday’s statement clarified that other booking channels would continue as before; railway counters (PRS counters) will have unchanged timing. Under existing rules, authorised ticketing agents are still barred from making bookings during the first 10 minutes of general reservations.
The rail officials have instructed the Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS) and IRCTC to update their systems to implement this policy, and directed zonal railways to publicise the decision.
As part of a major crackdown on the misuse of the Tatkal ticketing system, the railways have blocked 24 million user accounts and flagged another 2 million as suspicious in the past six months.
Currently, over 12 million of IRCTC’s 130 million registered users are Aadhaar-authenticated users.
