Confirmed or waitlisted? Railways starts trial to let you know train ticket status 24 hours in advance

Indian Railways has launched a pilot project to test the feasibility of preparing the seat confirmation charts for wait-listed passengers 24 hours before a train's departure.

Currently, the chart is prepared four hours before the scheduled departure time.

Ministry officials have assured that the pilot project would become part of the policy only after receiving a positive response from the passengers, reported PTI.

"We have started this pilot project in the Bikaner Division, where charts are being prepared 24 hours before the train departure. The current practice is doing so before 4 hours," Dilip Kumar, Executive Director, Information and Publicity, Railway Board, said.

The trial is being conducted keeping in mind the convenience of passengers on the waiting list, as they remain uncertain about their journey too close to the departure time.

"Now, if they know 24 hours before that their tickets are confirmed, they can plan their travel better," Kumar added.

But this would also mean passengers with confirmed status losing a substantial chunk of the ticket amount in case of cancellation within 24 hours.

According to the Railways’ cancellation policy, if a confirmed ticket is cancelled between 48 hours and 12 hours before departure, passengers will be charged 75% of the ticket amount as cancellation charges. If cancelled between 12 hours and 4 hours before departure, they will receive only 50%.

However, if a waiting list ticket is cancelled, only ₹60 per passenger gets deducted.

"Seats or berths falling vacant due to cancellation will be filled up through the current booking system," officials said.

Meanwhile, the government has mandated Aadhaar authentication to book tickets under the Tatkal scheme from July 1, 2025.

In a circular dated June 10, the ministry said only passengers verified through the government-issued Aadhaar identification will be permitted to book tickets under the last-minute Tatkal quota on the IRCTC website or app.

"With effect from 01-07-2025, tickets under the Tatkal scheme can be booked through the website of Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC)/ its app only by Aadhaar authenticated users," the ministry said.

Aadhaar-based OTP authentication shall also be made compulsory for Tatkal bookings at railway reservation counters or through authorised agents from July 15, 2025, onwards.

"Tatkal tickets shall be available for booking through computerized PRS (Passenger Reservation System) counters of Indian Railways/authorized agents only after authentication of a system-generated OTP, which shall be sent through the system on the mobile number furnished by the users at the time of booking. This shall also be implemented by 15/07/2025," the circular stated.

The ministry has also barred authorised agents from reserving opening day Tatkal tickets during the first 30 minutes of the booking window. Agents will be blocked from booking air-conditioned class Tatkal tickets between 10:00 am and 10:30 am, and non-AC class tickets from 11:00 am to 11:30 am.