New Delhi, Jun 4 (PTI) The Railway Ministry has authorised the Centre for Railway Information System (CRIS) to authenticate a passenger's Aadhaar ID to establish his or her identity.

A Gazette notification dated May 27, 2025, said, "The Ministry of Railways, Railway Board, hereby notifies that the Centre for Railway Information System (CRIS) be allowed to perform Aadhaar authentication, on a voluntary basis, to establish the identity of ticket-checking staff, crew members and passengers, using Yes/No or eKYC authentication facility." Almost a week after the notification, on June 4, 2025, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw posted on his X account, "Bharatiya Railways will soon start using e-Aadhaar authentication to book Tatkal tickets." "This will help genuine users get confirmed tickets during needed," Viashnaw added.

Railway officials say that at present, IRCTC does get Aadhaar authentication done through a third party, but after the Gazette notification, it will be much easier and faster to get the authentication done.

"Ticket-checking staff and crew members have also been brought under its ambit for official purposes," the official added.

The Ministry also issued a press statement in which it said that currently, there are more than 130 million active subscribers on the IRCTC website, of which only 12 million are Aadhaar-verified.

"IRCTC has decided to conduct special verification for all accounts that are not authenticated with Aadhaar. Accounts found to be suspicious will be closed. The railways aim to ensure that genuine passengers receive all types of Tatkal tickets," it said.

"Account holders who link their accounts with Aadhaar will get priority booking during the first 10 minutes of Tatkal ticket sales. Even authorized IRCTC agents are not allowed to book tickets within the first 10 minutes of the Tatkal window opening. Therefore, it has become necessary to verify your IRCTC account through Aadhaar," it added.

The Ministry said that the Railways is planning to make the Tatkal ticketing process more robust by making some of the rules more stringent like only Aadhaar-verified accounts will be allowed to book online Tatkal tickets, and Aadhaar-based OTP authentication shall also be required for booking.

` Sources said that counter-based tatkal tickets may also be booked after Aadhaar verification to control malpractices.

According to the Gazette notification, the process for Aadhaar authentication is voluntary, and a passenger has to give his or her consent for it. PTI JP HIG HIG

Aadhaar authentication enabled for rail ticketing, voluntary consent required and Aadhaar-verified accounts prioritised to curb misuse. The Ministry authorised CRIS to perform Aadhaar authentication on a voluntary basis using Yes/No or eKYC methods to establish identity of ticket-checking staff, crew and passengers, with consent required. IRCTC will prioritise Aadhaar-verified accounts for Tatkal booking during the initial booking window, conduct special verifications and close suspicious accounts, require Aadhaar-based OTP authentication for booking, and consider requiring Aadhaar verification for counter-based Tatkal tickets to control malpractices.