Tatkal is a ticketing program established by Indian Railways for booking journeys at very short notice. Tatkal tickets can be booked one day in advance excluding the date of journey from the train originating station. The booking starts at 10:00 AM for air-conditioned coaches and 11:00 AM for non-air-conditioned reserved coaches. Tatkal tickets can be booked over the counter in a railway station and on the internet at IRCTC. The Tatkal scheme is available for all forms of reserved classes on almost all trains in India. The scheme was introduced in 1997, and bookings can be made online and offline.
Some key features of Tatkal tickets include:
- Tatkal tickets can be booked one day in advance excluding the date of journey from the train originating station.
- Tatkal Booking starts one day in advance (reduced from 2 days) excluding the day of journey.
- Confirmed Tatkal tickets can be canceled, but no refunds are given. Tatkal tickets on the waiting list may be canceled and refunded.
- For contingent cancellation and waitlisted Tatkal ticket cancellations, charges will be deducted as per existing Railway rules.
- In case of a single Tatkal ticket, a maximum of four passengers is allowed for booking. A person is allowed to book only two tickets (either Sleeper or AC) from 8 am to 12 noon on a One IP address.
Tatkal tickets are issued for the actual distance of travel, instead of end-to-end, subject to the distance restriction applicable to the train.
Premium Tatkal was introduced in 2014 and works on dynamic pricing. This means passengers will be charged a higher price in case of increased demand and a lower price if the demand is less. Passengers might get a waitlisted ticket under Tatkal booking but this is not possible for Premium Tatkal. Tatkal tickets can be canceled, but this option is not available for Premium Tatkal.
