New Delhi: Aadhaar-based OTP verification for online Tatkal ticket booking has come into effect in 322 trains, a measure introduced to curb misuse and improve fairness. According to information shared in Parliament on Thursday, this has resulted in a 65 percent increase in confirmed Tatkal ticket availability time in these trains.

How widely has Aadhaar OTP been rolled out?

Aadhaar-based OTP verification for Tatkal bookings at reservation counters is also being introduced in phases. It has now been implemented in 211 trains as of 4 December. Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw informed the Lok Sabha in a written reply that this has led to an increase in confirmed Tatkal ticket availability time in about 95 per cent of 96 popular trains.

The minister also noted that rigorous revalidation and verification of user accounts have been carried out. He said, “About 3.02 crore suspicious user IDs have been deactivated since January 2025. Anti-bot solutions such as AKAMAI are deployed to filter non-genuine users and ensure smooth booking for legitimate passengers.”

What action has been taken against suspicious ticketing activity?

The minister added that complaints have been filed on the National Cyber Crime Portal for suspiciously booked PNRs.

Vaishnaw also highlighted the use of multiple protective layers including network firewalls, intrusion prevention systems, application delivery controllers and web application firewalls, all used to safeguard the system against cyber threats.

How secure is the reservation system?

The reservation system is hosted in a dedicated, access-controlled data centre. It is secured through CCTV surveillance and end-to-end encryption, and the data centre is certified under ISO 27001 Information Security Management System standards.

The minister stated, “To further strengthen its cyber security posture, RailTel Corporation of India Ltd. provides comprehensive cyber threat intelligence services, including take-down services, threat monitoring, deep and dark web surveillance and digital risk protection. These services offer proactive and actionable insights into emerging cyber threats and enable improved incident response.”

Regular security audits of the reservation system are carried out by CERT-In-empanelled Information Security Audit Agencies.

Internet traffic related to the ticketing system is continuously monitored by CERT-In and the National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre to detect and prevent cyberattacks.

IANS inputs