politics · 2026-07-24
89% Railway Tickets Now Booked Online After Fake Account Crackdown
Photo: Bahnfrend / Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 3.0)
57.9 crore of 65.08 crore reserved tickets were booked online between Jun 2025 and Jun 2026, leaving just 7.18 crore for countersOnline share jumped after anti-bot rules, Aadhaar checks for Tatkal, and removal of 6.68 crore fake accountsRegular riders, rural travelers without smartphones, and fake account agents face the biggest changes
How did Railways catch 6.68 crore fake accounts?
IRCTC flags unusual mobile numbers, email domains, and IP addresses. Since Jan 2024, it deactivated 6.68 crore accounts and suspended 6.22 crore more for revalidation. Aadhaar linking blocks agents from running multiple IDs to hoard Tatkal seats.
What IP and email patterns trigger suspension?
Mechanism
Data
What happens to a deactivated account's booking history?
How does Aadhaar verification actually work?
Policy
Why push Aadhaar for Tatkal specifically?
Tatkal tickets sell out in minutes. Bots and agents with dozens of fake accounts used to grab them instantly. Aadhaar verification limits each person to one account, so genuine passengers now see seats available longer.
Does IRCTC block bulk registrations?
Why did counters fall to 11% so fast?
Must users authenticate via UIDAI at booking?
Impact
Can deactivated accounts regain access?
Could Railways bring back more counter windows?
Who still needs counter booking badly?
Rural travelers without reliable internet or smartphones still depend on counters. Station masters in Bihar and UP report queues of farmers and elderly passengers who cannot navigate apps or lack Aadhaar-linked accounts.
Policy
The drop is sharper than smartphone penetration growth. Aadhaar mandates for Tatkal and ARP tickets forced even urban users online. Counters also reduced hours as staff moved to verification duties.
What do station agents do now for income?
Unlikely. Railways is consolidating 1,500+ stations into unreserved ticket apps and QR-based platform access. Counters cost ₹45 per ticket vs ₹2 online. Only politically sensitive rural routes may keep them.
Human Story
Former counter agents in Kanpur and Patna now charge ₹50-100 to help illiterate passengers create Aadhaar-linked IRCTC accounts or book tickets on shared phones. Some have shifted to platform vending.
Source: indianexpress.com