Rail fare hike surprises passengers, but new rules improve Tatkal ticket availability and reduce waitlists.
NEW DELHI: While rail passengers have faced a shock due to the increase in rail fares from July 1, 2025, changes in Aadhaar authentication and waiting ticket capping for Tatkal bookings have made journeys easier. Now, passengers are getting confirmed tickets in Tatkal to a large extent, but surprisingly, many trains are going empty.
You may find this hard to believe—we did too—but when we checked seat availability on some trains heading to Purvanchal, it was stunning. There is usually a rush for seats on these trains throughout the year, with no waiting tickets available during Durga Puja, Diwali, and Chhath Puja. Earlier, Tatkal tickets used to be booked within 2 to 5 minutes as soon as the booking window opened.
Now, if you look at the seat availability data, you will be surprised at how this change happened.
Till noon on July 5, 816 seats were vacant in train number 05578 going from Anand Vihar to Saharsa Junction for July 6, while 1,107 seats were available in train number 05580 for July 8. However, these are special trains which seem ready to go empty. On the other hand, the crowd for Tatkal booking has reduced, and most passengers are easily getting confirmed tickets. The unnecessary crowd in AC and sleeper coaches has also been reduced.
Moreover, after changes in the railway’s rules for issuing waiting tickets, only 25% of the total seats in Sleeper, AC First, AC Two, AC Three, Chair Car, Executive Chair Car, and other categories are now issued as waiting tickets, compared to 60% earlier. This has increased the chances of passengers getting confirmed tickets due to fewer waitlisted bookings. For example, around 100 to 200 waiting tickets were previously issued in the Third AC class of the Sampoorna Kranti Express, but now only about 70 are waitlisted. Earlier, during festival seasons in Vaishali, 700 to 800 waiting tickets were issued in sleeper class and 250 to 300 in Third AC. Similar situations were common in many trains like Bihar Sampark Kranti, Swatantrata Senani, Lichchavi Express, Vikramshila, Garib Rath, and Vaishali, which is no longer the case.
When more waiting tickets were booked earlier, the railways benefited financially, but now crores of rupees are reportedly being lost in daily revenue. Sources say that the railways are facing a daily loss of 25 to 35% in reserved ticket bookings compared to before.
However, in a conversation with The Sunday Guardian, Dilip Kumar, Executive Director (I & P) of the Ministry of Railways, said that the railways remain committed to passenger facilities and that the revenue loss will be estimated later. In this context, while the railways have introduced many significant changes to improve passenger convenience since July 1, the question remains: Will the dream of every rail passenger getting a confirmed ticket by 2026 become a reality?
