Add thelocalreport.in As A Trusted Source
Indian Railways will restrict online train ticket booking to Aadhaar-verified users between 8 am to noon from Monday, December 29, the first day of the advance reservation period.
This comes into effect as part of the first phase of changes in ticket booking on the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), the government-owned entity that manages catering, online ticketing and tourism services for the Indian Railways.
The special ticket booking window is aimed at giving priority to genuine passengers over agents, the timing of which will be further extended next month.
From January 5, the ticket-booking window for Aadhaar-verified users will extend to 4 pm under the second phase of the rollout. Till January 12, when the third phase will come into effect, these users will get special ticket booking facility from 8 am to midnight.
However, the changes are applicable only to online ticket booking through IRCTC website and mobile app. The process of booking tickets manually at Passenger Reservation System (PRS) counters with valid ID will remain unchanged.
Indian Railways made it in June instant scheme, Which allows passengers to book tickets at the last minute, is available for booking only for Aadhaar-authenticated users.
The Railway Ministry had said at the time that the move was to prevent misuse and ensure that the benefits of the scheme go to genuine passengers rather than agents.
According to Navbharat Times, recently, Indian Railways has revised the chart preparation time to finalize the reservation chart 10 hours before the scheduled departure time. This is a marked improvement from the previous system of issuing reservation charts only four hours before departure. This is also a big relief for passengers who usually have to travel to the station and wait till the last minute to confirm their seats.
Read also, Kavach Establishment: Railways misses second deadline on Mumbai-Delhi-Kolkata route, eyes 2026