New rule implemented for Aadhaar verified IRCTC users
IRCTC New Rule: Indian Railways has implemented a big and important change in the rules of ticket booking from today i.e. Monday, January 12. This change will directly affect your chances of getting your ticket confirmed. This new decision of Railways has brought great relief for those passengers who have linked their IRCTC account with Aadhaar card, while for the rest, the path of immediate or advance booking may be a bit difficult.
What is ‘Midnight’ booking?
Under this new rule which came into effect from Monday, IRCTC has decided to give VIP treatment to ‘Aadhaar verified’ users. Now only those users, whose account is verified with Aadhaar, will be able to book tickets online on the first day of opening of Advance Reservation Period (ARP). The biggest relief is that Railways has extended the booking time.
After this change, Aadhaar-verified users will now be able to book their train tickets till ‘midnight’ on the day of ARP opening. This simply means that if you are planning a journey after four months and the booking is opening today, then being a verified user you will have the entire day and night to book the ticket. This decision is no less than a boon for those passengers who used to miss booking tickets due to the servers being busy in the early hours of the morning.
What will happen to those with counter tickets?
The Railway Ministry has made clear the reason behind this change. In a statement issued on January 6, the ministry had said that it is very important to bring transparency in the e-ticketing system. It has often been seen that brokers and miscreants used to block all the seats as soon as the booking opened, due to which the common man was left empty handed. By making Aadhaar verification mandatory, it will be easier to identify those misusing the system and genuine passengers will be able to get seats.
At the same time, no change has been made in the rules for the passengers who still go to the railway station and buy tickets from PRS counters. They can reserve their tickets by going to the counter like before. This strictness is only for online booking i.e. IRCTC website and app users.
From 8 am to midnight now
Initially, Aadhaar verification was made mandatory for the first 15 minutes of booking opening. After this, an update came on 29 December 2025, in which Aadhaar-verified users were allowed to book tickets from 8:00 am to 12:00 noon. Immediately after this, on January 5, this time was further extended to 4:00 pm. Now from January 12, it has been completely opened till ‘Midnight’.