Booking Tatkal Ticket: As an Indian, we all travel through Indian Railways at some point in our lives. Train journeys are excited and full of fun irrespective of the class, whether sleeper class or AC first. Every class has its own story and excitement. The Indian Railways allows their passengers to book their seats before 120 days of commencement of the journey. The number of seats in Indian Railways is limited for particular trains and their specific class. After booking all the confirmed seats, the Indian Railways put the reservation on various waiting lists. But there are also some reserved seats for Tatkal booking. We can book the Tatkal tickets 24 hours before the departure of the train from its originating station. This facility is provided by Indian Railways for last moment unplanned or emergency journeys. It is tough to book Indian Railways Tatkal tickets, but we will understand the fundamentals of Tatkal ticket booking in this article.
Tatkal Reservation System Provided by Indian Railways
The word “Tatkal” is a Hindi word that means immediate or once. If we plan a journey on short notice, then Indian Railways provide us the facility of “Tatkal Reservation System” to fulfill our requirements. Tatkal reservation system facilities are supplied in Sleeper class; Air-conditioned chair class also known as executive chair car, Chair class, 3rd AC, and 2nd AC in every mail and express trains including special trains. The Tatkal service is not available for the AC first class.
There are three ways through which you can book your Tatkal tickets:-
- Through the Indian Railways reservation ticket counter,
- With the help of the IRCTC Mobile App, and
- Via any Indian Railways broker.
The tatkal tickets, which remain unreserved, used to clear the waiting lists.
IRCTC Mobile App
IRCTC Mobile App is used to book tickets, and it is an official Indian Railways ticket booking app. IRCTC Mobile App is also used to book Tatkal tickets. The tatkal ticket booking starts one day in advance; for example, if you have to book the ticket for 25/05/2021, you can book your ticket on 24/05/2021. However, the day of the journey also matters; for example, if you are traveling on 25/05/2021, the train’s departure from its originating station is 24/05/2021. Then the tatkal reservation for that train will be open on 23/05/2021.
There is a fixed time to open the tatkal reservation:
- Booking for the air conditioner class opens at 10:00 am, and non-AC Tatkal booking opens at 11:00 am one day advance from the actual date of departure (w.e.f of 15.06.2015). Previously Tatkal booking for all the trains opened at 10:00 am for both types of classes, AC and non-AC.
- If you are booking in a group or two or more passengers traveling, you do not have to furnish each and everyone’s identity proof. Only one identity proof is sufficient for the whole group of passengers. Identity proof may include: Aadhaar Number, PAN Number, Driving License Number, etc.
- No agents are allowed to book the Tatkal tickets within two hours from the opening of the Tatkal reservation. No authorized broker or agent is authorized to book tickets between 110:00 am to 12:00 noon.
- For offline from the Indian Railways Reservation Ticket Counter, there is a separate queue for the tatkal booking reservation between 10:00 am to 10:30 am.
- After confirming the booking of the Tatkal ticket, no refund will be initiated. That is, there is no refund for the guaranteed Tatkal tickets.
- You can book four passengers maximum at a time from the IRCTC Mobile App. And for all four passengers, there is one PNR that will be allotted for the one ticket.
- Tatkal tickets have a higher price than standard tickets due to the Tatkal charge, charged by the Indian Railways for providing the tatkal service.
There is a fixed percentage for the Tatkal charge:
- 10% of basic fare for second class (non-AC class)
- 30% of basic fare for all other categories (it includes non-AC and AC class)
- Tatkal has some fixed minimum and maximum charges.
- In Tatkal, there is no discount provided to the Senior Citizens.
At the time of booking, the passenger must produce the identity proof, and then only the booking will proceed. You do not have to produce everyone’s identity proof if you are in a group. One single identity proof is sufficient. ID proofs can be one of the following:-
- Voter Photo identity card.
- Passport
- PAN Card
- Driving Licence
- Serial number of State or Central Government photo identity
- Student identity card in which we can recognize the School or College name.
- Bank passbook
- Credit cards
- UAN Number
- Aadhaar Card number
In the travel e-commerce industry, IRCTC is leading with the highest transaction share in the travel category. One out of five Indians visits the Indian Railways site. There are 12 million unique monthly visitors. The peak hour of the Indian Railways sites is between 10:00 am to 12:30 pm. Total 12 lakhs berths and seats were booked daily, and from that, 2 lakh seats have come under the Tatkal quota. Two thousand six hundred seventy-seven trains have registered for Tatkal booking service in The Indian Railways. Tatkal has total revenue of Rs. 1450 crore in the year 2019-20.
IRCTC Mobile App is one of the slowest apps in India due to which it receives server instability between its peak hour of 10:00 am to 12:30 pm. It is quiet, sluggish, and has very low bandwidth. Tatkal tickets sold within 40-45 minutes from the opening of the reservation counter. It is one of the fastest sold-out tickets globally (between 10-12 am). IRCTC is upgrading its system to provide better service in the future; for this, IRCTC has spent ten crores on a drive of 64GB RAM.
How to Book Tatkal Tickets from IRCTC Mobile App
IRCTC Mobile App is crammed during the Tatkal booking hours and relatively slow too. Many people tried to book their tickets simultaneously by logging in to their respective IRCTC Mobile App account, making the server slow during the Tatkal hours. Doing some groundwork before heading towards Tatkal hours can save your time and increase your chance of getting a confirmed booking, as getting a confirmed Tatkal ticket is quite tricky in IRCTC Mobile App or Indian Railways.
Get your passenger details ready, name, age, food, preference, and identity proof, which were required at the time of Tatkal booking. Identity proof is needed at the time of booking and at the time of the journey.
Mode of Payment Details To Confirm Your Seat
IRCTC Mobile App provides you with a variety of options for the payment of your ticket.
- Credit Card
- Debit Card
- BHIM
- UPI ID
- Net Banking
- Cash (only for Indian Railways counter tickets)
There are some charges included in every transaction except for the cash. When you pay through IRCTC Mobile App, you have to pay some convenience charge.
Now ready with your password and strong wifi can save your little time too.
Get your train name and train number ready and watch for the total available seats.
Using a Non-IRCTC app or website, you can find the complete details of your train number, train name, and available seats for the Tatkal tickets without log-in. You can use any third-party website at your convenience to find out the details. By knowing the available seats, you can discuss with your group about seating preferences and food before opening the Tatkal ticket counter.
Synchronize Your Watch With The IRCTC Time
Synchronizing your watch helps you a lot in the initial stage of the booking; even if you can get 10 seconds earlier, you can make a huge difference and the chance of getting a confirmed ticket increases.
Open the IRCTC website, and you can see the clock at the top right corner from where you can match your watch with the IRCTC clock.
Use AutoFill Feature to Save Time
There are so many tech tools available on the internet that help you get your ticket faster during the tatkal time or peak time of the IRCTC site. Using that tech tool in your Google Chrome and adding them as an extension to your browser can help you reduce so much time.
How Did it Work?
After adding the tech tools to your chrome extension, you need to visit the IRCTC site before half an hour and fill in the exact details you wish to enter during the Tatkal booking. You have to go to the usual booking section and follow the booking procedure. After reaching the payment gateway page, there is no need to proceed further, and you can terminate the booking procedure. The tech tools will remember the details you have filled in, and now you do not need to spend time filling the details on the IRCTC site when the server is already slow. The tech tool will auto-fill your reserved details just by clicking the button.
By doing auto-fill, your chance to get a confirmed tatkal ticket will increase significantly. It is a Magic Tool for IRCTC Tatkal Booking. After you fill in your details on regular ticket booking, then the parties will save. An auto-fill button will pop up, which you have to bookmark on the browser, and when you are going through the Tatkal booking process, you have to click on the bookmark and then click on the button. This will fill in all the details which were preserved during regular ticket booking.
Logging in IRCTC
You can log in before 10:00 am. There is no need to log in at precisely 10:00 am or after 10:00 am. You can take an ideal time like 3-4 minutes before 10:00 am and make sure to refresh the page regularly. Because according to the Terms and Conditions, the session will expire after every five minutes. So, your screen may be passed, and you have to log in again at the peak moment. Whatsoever the server will automatically slow at exactly 10:00 am.
Booking a tatkal ticket is a kind of experience, in which we have some good moments with us and bad ones. The following tweets can explain these:-
- If someone books their Tatkal ticket in their first attempt, they can tweet and make IRCTC trending.
- They mock Sachin Tendulkar, as scoring a century against railways is accessible but booking a confirmed Tatkal ticket is more challenging than the century.
- IRCTC is the face of new India as it is against reservation. It means that in IRCTC Mobile App, you can not reserve a seat quickly.
- Passengers think the IRCTC tagline refers to “web page not available.”
In India, trains are one of the cheapest and most accessible mediums of transport. With time booking an Indian, Railway ticket is easier with the help of the IRCTC Mobile App. As IRCTC Tatkal Reservation opens a day in advance before the departing date of the train for hardly an hour or a little more due to which many people try to log in simultaneously, which makes Tatkal reservation difficult.