Indian Railways is set to roll out major reforms to its ticketing operations under a three‑pronged plan designed to enhance transparency, fairness and system efficiency for millions of passengers.
Effective immediately, reservation charts for wait‑listed passengers will be prepared eight hours before departure, a significant advance from the current practice, said a Times of India report. This change will grant passengers, particularly those on the waiting list, earlier clarity on their status and more time to make alternative arrangements if needed.
Railway authorities also plan a complete overhaul of the Passenger Reservation System (PRS), aimed at reducing outages, strengthening servers, increasing speed, and integrating better anti‑bot/C‑DN technology, said the TOI report. The upgraded system is slated for rollout by December 2025, part of broader digital reforms.
In a bid to curb automation and scalping in the highly competitive Tatkal quota, the Railways will now require Aadhaar‐linked IRCTC accounts for all Tatkal bookings from July 1, 2025.
Further tightening measures come into effect on July 15, mandating Aadhaar‑based OTP verification across online, PRS‑counter, and agent‑facilitated bookings.
As part of the overhaul, booking agents will be barred from accessing Tatkal windows during the initial 30 minutes, from 10:00 to 10:30 AM for AC classes and 11:00 to 11:30 AM for non‑AC, to ensure individual users get first access.
The Ministry has strongly urged passengers to link their Aadhaar and mobile numbers to IRCTC profiles well before July 1, to avoid disruptions during booking. Officials noted that over 24 million suspicious user IDs have already been blocked, and nearly 2.5 crore were deactivated to clamp down on bots.
Alongside these structural changes, a modest fare increase for second‑class passengers will come into effect from July 1, it is reported.
The synchronization of faster charting, Aadhaar for Tatkal, agent restrictions, and the PRS upgrade are projected as a concerted push for passenger‑centric reforms. Early chart preparation prevents last‑minute scrambles, while authenticated bookings and agent curbs level the playing field.
The PRS revamp, bolstered by CDN deployment and AI‑driven fraud protections, seeks to resolve long‑standing IRCTC glitches—critical given a record 31,814 Tatkal tickets were booked in a single minute in May.
