The Tatkal Scheme is a ticketing program established by
Indian Railways
Indian Railways (IR) is a statutory body under the ownership of Ministry of Railways, Government of India that operates India's national railway system. It manages the fourth largest national railway system in the world by size, with a tot ...
. The scheme is used for booking journeys at very short notice. The Indian Railways introduced it in all forms of reserved classes on almost all trains in
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
. It was introduced in 1997, when
Nitish Kumar
Nitish Kumar (born 1 March 1951) is an Indian politician, who is serving as Chief Minister of Bihar since 22 February 2015, having previous held the office from 2005 to 2014 and for a short period in 2000. The leader of the Janata Dal (Unite ...
was the
Railway Minister of India
The Minister of Railways is the head of the Ministry of Railways of the Government of India
The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, i ...
. Bookings can be made online and offline.
Features
Tatkal
tickets
Ticket or tickets may refer to:
Slips of paper
* Lottery, Lottery ticket
* Parking violation, Parking ticket, a ticket confirming that the parking fee was paid (and the time of the parking start)
* Ticket system, Toll ticket, a slip of paper use ...
can be booked over the counter in a railway station and on the
internet
The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...
at
IRCTC
Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) is an Indian public sector undertaking that provides ticketing, catering, and tourism services for the Indian Railways. It was initially wholly owned by the Government of India and operated ...
.
* Ticket booking opens at 10:00 AM on the day before the day of the train at origin station. The day of the journey is defined as the day of chart preparation. For APP based booking TATKAL window opens 1 day in advance excluding the day of journey. If travel date is on 5th TATKAL will open in APP on 4th; on the other side, if date of journey at boarding station is 5th for the train starting at the origin station on 4th, then tatkal booking will open on 3rd.
* Booking starts at 10:00 AM for air-conditioned coaches. For non air-conditioned reserved coaches it starts from 11:00 am.
* No entire trains are defined as Tatkal trains. Unsold Tatkal tickets are released to passengers on a waiting list. Confirmed Tatkal tickets can be canceled, but no refunds are given. Tatkal tickets on the waiting list may be cancelled and refunded.
* On those trains and in those cases where the average utilization of Tatkal
accommodation during the peak period of April to September is 80% and above, the Tatkal charges that are applicable during the peak period will be charged throughout the year, i.e., for both the peak and the non-peak periods.
Premium Tatkal Booking
Premium Tatkal was introduced on October 1, 2014 covering half of the tickets on certain trains.
These tickets can be purchased online only. The program began with a pilot of about 80 trains. Premium Tatkal and regular Tatkal tickets operate in the same manner but premium tatkal will cost more than twice of tatkal ticket
Fraud prevention
Misuse of this scheme led the
Ministry of Railways
A Ministry of Railways is a Cabinet department that exists or has existed in many Commonwealth states as well as others. It generally occurs in countries where railroad transportation is a particularly important part of the national infrastructur ...
to change the timing of Tatkal booking in June 2015. All types of ticketing agents including IRCTC agents will now be debarred from booking non-Tatkal tickets for 30 minutes from the opening of bookings, that is from 8 am to 8.30 AM for general classes, from 10 AM onwards for Tatkal AC classes, and from 11 AM onwards for Tatkal non-AC classes.
See also
*
Indian Railways
Indian Railways (IR) is a statutory body under the ownership of Ministry of Railways, Government of India that operates India's national railway system. It manages the fourth largest national railway system in the world by size, with a tot ...
IRCTC
References
{{reflist, 30em
External links
Indian Railways