Railway tatkal ticket new rule: If you too often stand in line at the reservation counter of the railway station to book Tatkal tickets, then now the way you travel is going to change completely. Now booking Tatkal tickets from the reservation counter of the station will not be as easy as before, because Railways has implemented a new OTP based rule to make the booking process more secure and transparent. That is, now Tatkal ticket will be available from the counter only when the OTP received on the passenger’s mobile number is successfully entered. This step has been taken to curb Tatkal ticket fraud, fake booking and arbitrariness of brokers. Speaking to India TV Digital, Railway Board Executive Director (Information and Publicity) Dilip Kumar confirmed this.
Indian Railways has already made many changes in digital ticketing. Aadhaar based authentication for online booking of Tatkal tickets was introduced in July 2025. After this, OTP based online system was implemented for first day booking of all general reservations in October 2025, which was widely accepted by common passengers and this increased transparency in ticketing. Now Railways has extended this model to counter booking. From 17 November 2025, Railways had started the pilot project of OTP based Tatkal ticket counter booking, which was initially implemented on some trains. Seeing its success, this system has now been implemented on 52 trains.
How will the new rule work?
Under the new rule, when a passenger books a Tatkal ticket from the station counter, it will be mandatory for him to provide his mobile number in the reservation form. As soon as the booking is registered, an OTP will be sent to the passenger’s phone, which will have to be told to the counter employee. The ticket will be confirmed only if the OTP is correct. Railways says that this system will make the ticket purchase process completely secure and will eliminate the possibility of booking tickets by giving fake identity or wrong mobile number.
This system will be applicable for all trains
Railways is now preparing to implement this system for all trains in the next few days. According to railway officials, this step will not only improve the availability of Tatkal tickets but will also put a stop to the large-scale blocking of Tatkal tickets by touts. With this, genuine passengers will be able to get tickets more easily.
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