EVERY holiday season has a familiar story: the rush to leave town and the mad rush for train tickets. Sometimes, getting a ticket even under the Tatkal quota (which literally means immediately) can be elusive.
The Tatkal facility in the Indian Railways allows you to book a seat or berth in a train exactly one day before the date of the journey. A Tatkal ticket is available for a fee on a first-come, first-served basis.
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Slots for the various AC classes, such as AC 3-tier, AC 2-tier and First Class open at 10 AM while that for the sleeper class opens at 11 AM. The railways reserves only a few seats or berths for Tatkal in a coach, whether it is AC or non-AC.
Tatkal charges have been fixed at the rate of 10 per cent of the basic fare for second class and 30 per cent of the basic fare for all other classes, subject to a minimum and maximum fee. While Tatkal tickets may be a lifesaver for many, keep in mind that they are not refundable if you decide to cancel your ticket.
The window to book these tickets is open for only an hour and a maximum of just four seats can be booked on a single Passenger Name Record (more commonly known as PNR, the unique ten-digit number assigned to every booked train ticket).
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How to book a Tatkal ticket on a web browser
- Go to the IRCTC website. You can click here to go directly.
- Click on the ‘Options Menu’ on the top right corner of the page: you will find the ‘Login’ option in the side panel.
- Once logged in, you will find the option to ‘Book Ticket’.
- Enter the station you’d like to board the train from in the ‘From’ field and the destination station in the ‘To’ option.
- From the dropdown menu beneath it, select the ‘Tatkal’ option for the quota. It is set on ‘General’ by default.
- Enter the desired date in the relevant field and select the class for which you’d like to book. Once done, click on ‘Search’.
- You’ll be shown a list of trains that run between the stations for the date. If tickets are available under Tatkal quota, click on ‘Book Now’.
- You will be redirected to fill details of the passengers – these will include name, age, gender and berth preference.
- After filling out all the required details, enter the captcha and your mobile number at the bottom of the page. Your ticket details will be sent to this number.
- Choose your preferred payment option and make the payment.
The entire process is easy and smooth. You’ll be able to complete it under two minutes.
