Indian Railways Clarifies Rail One Digital Unreserved Ticket Rules; Screenshots and WhatsApp Copies Will Not Be Accepted

If you are travelling via Indian Railways with an unreserved ticket, well, new details highlight that passengers travelling with digital unreserved tickets must show the original ticket available within the Rail One app during ticket verification.

Read more about the latest clarification below.

Rail One Digital Unreserved Tickets – Screenshots and Forwarded Copies Will Not Be Accepted

As per a report by News18, a woman travelling from Korba to Raipur was reportedly fined after she presented a WhatsApp screenshot of an unreserved ticket during verification. She claimed that her brother had booked the ticket through the Rail One app and later forwarded its screenshot to her.

However, the ticket in question was found to have been generated at 4:45 PM, while the train had already departed from Korba station at 4:10 PM. This, in turn, resulted in a fine being imposed by Indian Railways, as the ticket was considered invalid.

Indian Railways has clarified that digital unreserved tickets will only be considered valid when they are available on the same mobile phone and registered mobile number through which the ticket was booked.

This means that screenshots, photographs, PDF files, or copies of tickets shared through WhatsApp or other messaging platforms will not be accepted as valid digital unreserved tickets.

Moreover, passengers have also been reminded that digital unreserved tickets must be booked before the train departs from the boarding station. Any ticket generated after the train has already left the station will be treated as invalid, even if the ticket is later displayed within the Rail One app.

Now, this might prove to be an inconvenience for some users because, most of the time, even I book tickets for my parents and usually share them with them via WhatsApp. However, the requirement of carrying the same mobile phone and registered mobile number through which the ticket was booked is likely to inconvenience some passengers.

Therefore, the best advice would be that if you are booking a digital unreserved ticket for someone, make sure that it is booked using the mobile phone and number of the person who will actually be travelling.

Furthermore, in a statement given to News18, Senior Divisional Commercial Manager of the Raipur Division, Awadhesh Kumar Trivedi, reiterated that only the original digital ticket available on the registered device will be considered valid for travel.