A good fix: On the IRCTC and ticket booking

The e-ticketing system of the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Ltd. (IRCTC) is one of India’s most widely used e-commerce platforms. Crores of Indian rail commuters and passengers use it to book their tickets, which makes it imperative that the system is run robustly. The scale of the operation is revealing — on May 22, 2025, the IRCTC processed a staggering 31,814 tickets in 60 seconds to set a new record. Yet, the popular e-ticketing system, especially the Tatkal booking part, is plagued by issues. Extremely high demand during peak hours, particularly during the designated Tatkal booking window period, often leads to crashes and slow performance. A major concern is that the system is exploited by ticketing agents who use unfair automated tools (or bots), leading to rapidly dwindling ticket availability for passengers. These issues are what prompted the IRCTC to announce two major steps. The first was a major digital overhaul of the ticketing infrastructure using anti-bot systems to prevent unauthorised automated bookings — a measure that led to the de-activation of a whopping 2.5 crore suspect user IDs. Implementation of a content delivery network also helped improve website performance. In addition, Aadhaar verification is necessary immediately after a ticket is booked. The IRCTC has also mandated Aadhaar authentication for all Tatkal bookings, from July 1, along with OTP-based authentication. Authorised agents have been restricted from booking Tatkal tickets during the first 30 minutes of the booking window period.

The idea behind an e-ticketing platform and the provision of Tatkal booking of tickets are to provide equitable chances for passengers to travel. Despite more train services having been introduced over the years by the Indian Railways, which is a state monopoly, demand far outstrips supply, and passengers have to rely on advanced booking and Tatkal tickets for their travel. When agents use bots to game the system, it kills the purpose of equity. Therefore, the IRCTC’s steps will bring relief to passengers. That said, the Indian Railways must focus not only on easing the process of ticketing but also on elevating the passenger experience in terms of increasing its train and track capacity to fulfil travel demand, ensuring safety and enhancing its facilities. Seen in this context, while these ticketing fixes are important, the true test for the Indian Railways will be its ability to move beyond just technical and administrative solutions and undertake a fundamental expansion of its services to serve India’s large passenger clientele. In a way, meaningful expansion to meet the demand will also obviate the need for reworking technological solutions yet again in the future.