Aadhar Card will be Mandatory from 1 April for booking Train Tickets Online

By Admin 7 years ago

It seems you will soon not be able to book railway tickets online if you don't have the Aadhaar card. The Indian Railways is considering tweaking its system to book tickets online thus making Aadhaar card compulsory.

According to a PTI report, the change has reportedly been made to deter touts from blocking tickets in bulk and making fraudulent bookings.

On Thursday Indian Railways unveiled a new business plan for year 2017-18 and noted that it would be working to integrate Aadhaar card data with the online ticketing system. In other words, the Railways may soon make Aadhaar card mandatory for booking train tickets online on the IRCTC website.

Although, this "mandatory" could be only for tickets where the passengers seek some sort of concessions. Already for train tickets for senior citizens, Indian Railways requires Aadhaar. For now that too is optional from April 1, it will become mandatory.

Its also planning to launch an integrated ticketing app in May to promote cashless transaction.

PTI reports that the Railways is moving towards Aadhaar enabled ticketing system so that it can "prevent touts from blocking a bulk of tickets, end fraudulent bookings and curb cases of impersonation."

Aadhaar Based Rail Tickets: How Will It Happen?

Thankfully, Indian Railways have done their homework for linking Aadhaar cards with rail ticket bookings. We had speculated earlier that railways will soon ask for Aadhaar card every time a ticket would be booked, causing unnecessary delays.

But that is not the case now.

As per PTI report, Aadhaar card would be made mandatory to link with the IRCTC’s website, where tickets are being booked. This shall be a one-time registration.

Whenever a ticket is booked using a particular Aadhaar-linked IRCTC account, the ticket would be automatically linked with the Aadhaar card.

During ticket checking, this same Aadhaar card would be checked against the ticket, thereby confirming the authenticity,

Why Aadhaar Based Rail Tickets?

As per reports coming in, Indian Railways wants to flush out unauthorised agents and touts, who form a cartel, and book advance tickets using online and offline mode. These agents then contact passengers who are in urgent need of tickets and sell them these pre-booked tickets at exorbitant rates.

Once every online ticket is linked with Aadhaar card, then carrying on such ticketing scams would be a thing of past, as every ticket has to be linked with one unique Aadhaar card.

A high-ranking railway official said, “Aadhaar number will be required for one-time registration at the IRCTC ticketing site. The step is aimed at eliminating touts from registering with fake identities,”

If we talk about Aadhaar card and railway tickets, then a pilot project will start from April 1st, wherein all senior citizens are required to provide their Aadhaar cards for getting senior citizen’s discounts on rail tickets. The success of this pilot project will then determine the feasibility of Aadhaar linked rail tickets for all the mediums, both online and offline.

Besides, Indian Railways will install 6000+ PoS machines across all railway booking counters for cashless ticket bookings, and 1000 automatic ticketing machines as well.

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