Indian Railways has announced a major change in the Tatkal booking process. With the aim of improving transparency and curbing the misuse of Tatakal ticket booking facility, the Ministry has introduced new rules, including compulsory basis for Tatakal booking. From July 1, 2025, new rules will be applicable on IRCTC platform.

The Railway Ministry announced that the base-based certification would soon become an important part of booking Tatakal tickets for both online and offline. The official statement of the ministry said, “With the impact from 01-07-2025, tickets under the Tatkal Scheme can be booked through the website of Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC)/Its app only by base-effective users only.”

Under the new rules for Tatkal Booking, some major changes made by the Ministry here have been made:

Aadhaar is mandatory for booking Azkal

Starting from 1 July 2025, passengers who book Tatkal tickets through the IRCTC website or mobile app will require to use the base-based certification. However, from July 15, this process will become even more strict, as the ministry has announced that passengers will have to undergo a time password (OTP) based verification through Aadhaar for all online tatkal booking.

Railways believe that Aadhaar verification will act as a preventive against misuse.

OTP certification extended to counters and agents

However, new instructions from Indian Railways are not only to book their tickets online for individual users. From July 15, 2025, all Tatakal ticket purchases made in passenger reservation system (PRS) counters and through authorized railway agents will also require OTP-based certification. Users will receive an OTP on their registered mobile number, which must be presented to complete the booking process.

Agents will not be allowed to book Tatakal tickets during the first 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, ordinary passengers stopped the authorized ticketing agents from booking Tatkal tickets during the 30 minutes after the opening of the booking window to give ordinary passengers a proper opportunity to secure the tatkal ticket without restricting agents within the first few minutes. For AC classes, agents will be banned from booking between 10:00 am and 10:30 pm, while for non-AC classes, the ban will be applicable from 11:00 am to 11:30 am.

The move aims to give ordinary passengers a proper opportunity to secure the tatkal ticket without competing against those agents that often book in bulk within the first few minutes.

The Ministry of Railways has also directed the Center for Railway Information Systems (CRIS) and IRCTC to implement the necessary system upgrade and coordinate with all zonal railways to ensure the smooth rollout of the new protocol.

Meanwhile, the Ministry has urged all passengers to urge them to link their Aadhaar number with their IRCTC accounts before the July deadline to avoid the issues of final-minute booking. Users are advised to ensure that their mobile numbers are correctly registered to get OTP for authentication.