Indian Railways Revamps Ticket System for Enhanced Security and User Experience

In a major move towards enhancing transparency and security, the Indian Railways announced a digital transformation of its ticketing system, according to a statement from the Ministry of Railways on Thursday. By deploying advanced anti-BOT systems and teaming up with a leading Content Delivery Network (CDN) provider, the railways have drastically reduced unauthorized automated bookings by rogue agents and improved genuine user access.

The Ministry noted the system's ability to effectively mitigate bot traffic, which surges during the first minutes of Tatkal bookings and can constitute up to 50 percent of login attempts. This upgrade, they claim, ensures fairer access for legitimate users and has led to the deactivation of 2.5 crore suspect user IDs. On May 22, 2025, the system achieved a record high by booking 31,814 tickets per minute, demonstrating its robustness and scalability. New protocols mandate a three-day delay for non-Aadhaar authenticated users to book certain tickets, while Aadhaar-verified users can proceed immediately.

The efforts are showing measurable results, with average daily user logins escalating from 69.08 lakh in FY 2023-24 to 82.57 lakh in FY 2024-25, marking a 19.53 percent increase, and average daily ticket bookings up by 11.85 percent. E-Ticketing now comprises 86.38 percent of total reservations. System upgrades include 87 percent of static content served through CDN for improved load times, alongside sophisticated AI to detect and mitigate bot traffic and methods to deactivate suspicious user IDs.

Sources state that Indian Railways plans to bolster the Tatkal ticketing process by introducing stricter regulations. Online booking will be restricted to Aadhaar-verified accounts, and Aadhaar-based OTP authentication will become mandatory. Additionally, counter-based Tatkal tickets may also require Aadhaar verification to curb malpractice.

(With inputs from agencies.)