Indian Railways announces new rules for Tatkal tickets from July. What are they?

The new rules come amid passenger complaints regarding tickets vanishing owing to agents and bots.

Updated on: Jun 11, 2025, 16:16:24 IST

By HT News Desk

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Indian Railways has announced new rules for passengers looking to book tickets under the Tatkal category starting July 1.

The changes in the rules might provide relief to common-end users during Tatkal bookings. (HT Photo)

The rules are expected to make ticket booking easier for the passengers and avoid fraud during the process. The new rules come amid passenger complaints regarding tickets vanishing owing to agents and bots. However, the changes in the rules might provide relief to travellers, and give them the upper hand while booking Tatkal tickets.

Changes in rules for Tatkal bookings

According to the changes announced by the Indian Railways, tickets under the Tatkal scheme can be booked only by Aadhaar-authenticated users starting July 1.

According to a circular by the railway ministry, the tickets “can be booked through the website of Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC)/ its app only by Aadhaar authenticated users.” Once this rule kicks in, OTP authentication via Aadhaar-linked mobile number will also be introduced by July 15, PTI reported.

“Indian Railways will soon start using e-Aadhaar authentication to book Tatkal tickets. This will help genuine users get confirmed tickets during need," union railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw had posted last week on X.

Moreover, the ministry has also announced that the ticket bookings for authorised agents will be opened 30 minutes after the actual timings. This means that the agents will not be able to book Tatkal tickets from 10.00 am to 10.30 am for air-conditioned coaches and from 11.00 am to 11.30 am for non-air-conditioned coaches, as per PTI.

“Even authorised IRCTC agents will not be able to book tatkal tickets during this initial phase, even if they have multiple user IDs and emails,” an official earlier told Hindustan Times.

On the use of AI tools for bookings, the official said that over 24 million users had been blocked by IRCTC during the past six months, and another 2 million were under investigation for the same.

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