IRCTC Ticket Booking: It is common to face difficulties while trying to book train tickets after planning a journey or for essential travel. In recent times, Indian Railways has been making major interventions in ticket bookings in view of the constant requests of passengers. Following this, the Railways has recently implemented some important changes related to train ticket booking.
If you rely on tatkal tickets for train travel, there are some important changes that you should be aware of from July this year. Indian Railways has announced new rules to make tatkal bookings more transparent and easy for passengers. These include Aadhaar verification, OTP-based security checks, and restrictions on booking hours for agents.
* From July 1, 2025, if you are booking tatkal tickets online through the IRCTC website or app, you will need to ensure that your Aadhaar number is linked to your IRCTC account. Without doing this, you will not be able to check your tatkal bookings online.
* The booking process will be more secure if you book Tatkal tickets from a railway reservation counter or through an authorised IRCTC agent. From July 15, 2025, all such bookings will require OTP-based verification, just like online bookings. This step is to prevent fake bookings and ensure that only genuine passengers get Tatkal tickets.
* As part of providing more assistance to daily commuters in getting Tatkal tickets, the Railways has imposed booking time restrictions on authorised agents. From July 2025, agents will not be allowed to book tickets during the first 30 minutes of the Tatkal booking window. While Tatkal booking for AC class tickets will start at 10 am, agents will be able to book only after 10:30 am. Tatkal booking for non-AC class tickets will start at 11 am, but agents will be able to book only after 11:30 am.
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