New Delhi, March 25 (IANS). The central government on Wednesday said that there has been a sharp increase in online ticket booking and in the financial year 2025-26 (by April-February), the share of digital in the total reserve booking in the country has been 48.25 crore and 88 percent.
In a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnav said the growing trend towards online booking through IRCTC has made it easier for passengers to get tickets by reducing the need to visit reservation counters and reducing travel time and cost.
The Union Minister said, “The online ticket booking facility provided by IRCTC is one of the most passenger-friendly initiatives of Indian Railways and its acceptance can be gauged from the fact that currently about 88 per cent of reserved tickets are booked online.”
He further said, “IRCTC spends heavily on providing online ticketing facility and a very nominal convenience fee is charged by IRCTC to meet the expenses incurred in maintenance, upgrades and expansion of the ticketing infrastructure.”
The online system has become one of the most passenger-friendly initiatives of Indian Railways, due to which most of the tickets are now being booked digitally.
To ensure fair access and prevent misuse, the government has taken several steps to curb fraudulent activities.
From July 1, 2025, Tatkal tickets can be booked online only by Aadhaar-authenticated users.
This has helped limit the use of fake accounts and increased the chances of genuine passengers getting tickets.
“During 2025, 3.04 crore user accounts were deactivated and 2.94 crore user accounts were temporarily suspended, who were given the option to reactivate,” Vaishnav said.
He further said, “However, 1,80,474 user accounts have been reactivated during the period from January 1, 2025 to February 28, 2026.”
IRCTC has also strengthened its technical systems to deal with cyber threats. Its anti-bot technology is capable of blocking approximately 64 percent of bad traffic, improving the booking experience for end users.
Vaishnav said, “Till February 28, 2026, 13,023 suspicious email domains have been blocked in the year 2025-26.”
–IANS
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