22,676 touts arrested in Tatkal ticket booking system, 57.74% bot traffic persists

The question asked the Ministry of Railways to state if it is aware of the ineffectiveness of the Tatkal booking system due to brokers and bots, and to provide details on arrests, punitive actions, and cybersecurity measures implemented to ensure fair ticketing.

Asked and answered by: Asked by Shri Shyamkumar Daulat Barve; Answered by the Minister of Railways, Information & Broadcasting and Electronics & Information Technology (Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw).

What the government said

• Aadhaar authentication and OTP verification are mandatory for online Tatkal bookings to prevent fake accounts.
• Anti-bot solutions, Content Delivery Networks (CDN), and Web Application Firewalls (WAF) are deployed to filter non-genuine users.
• The system is hosted in an ISO 27001 certified data centre in Chanakyapuri, New Delhi.
• 3.04 crore suspicious user IDs were deactivated and 6.22 crore placed under revalidation between 2025-26 and 2026-27 (till 30.06.2026).
• 22,676 touts were arrested by the Railway Protection Force (RPF) from 2021 to June 2026.
• 530 complaints regarding suspicious bookings were lodged on the National Cyber Crime Portal in the same period.
• 13,343 suspicious email domains were blocked in the same period.
• An average of 57.74% of requests to the e-ticketing system in the last six months were identified as bots.

Also in the document

• The answer states that 22,676 touts were arrested but does not provide a breakdown of arrests by railway zone or specific details of punitive actions taken against them, as requested in part (b) of the question.
• The government reports that a majority of traffic (57.74% average) to the booking system consists of bots, indicating a high volume of automated attempts despite security measures.