Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav told in the Lok Sabha that now about 88% of reserved railway tickets in the country are being booked online. This shows the increasing popularity of digital platforms. IRCTC also charges a small convenience fee to maintain and upgrade the online ticketing system.
Big change in online ticketing
The government has implemented new rules to ensure transparency and prevent fraud in ticket booking. From July 1, 2025, only Aadhaar verified users can book Tatkal tickets through the website or app. Apart from this, even on the first day of opening of general reservation, online ticketing will be available only for Aadhaar verified users. However, the accounts of the users who have not linked Aadhaar have not been closed.
online vs counter tickets
According to the data till February in 2025-26, the dominance of online ticket booking is clearly visible. During this period, about 48.25 crore tickets were booked online, while only 6.15 crore tickets were taken from the counter. It is clear from this that passengers are rapidly moving towards digital platforms.
Strict action against fake accounts
Railways has launched a big campaign to curb ticket brokering and fake booking. In 2025, about 3.04 crore fake user IDs were closed, while 2.94 crore accounts were temporarily suspended. Of these, 1.80 lakh accounts were later reactivated.
Stopping fraud through technology
To prevent irregularities in Tatkal tickets, Aadhaar verification has been made mandatory, making it difficult for one person to create multiple fake accounts. Additionally, a Content Delivery Network (CDN) has been deployed on the website and 64% of suspicious traffic has been blocked through anti-bot technology.
keep an eye on suspicious activities
Railways has identified 4.07 lakh suspicious PNRs, on which 408 complaints have been lodged on the cyber crime portal. Besides, 13,023 suspicious email domains have also been blocked.
Steps towards transparency
The government says that the process of making the ticketing system more transparent is continuing. Whereas, on cancellation of waiting ticket, clerkage charge will remain applicable as before.