indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), the online ticketing arm of the Indian Railways, offers a train ticket booking facility for individuals travelling on an urgent basis. Known as Tatkal ticket booking scheme, travellers can reserve or book train tickets at 10:00 am for air-conditioned (AC) classes and at 11:00 am for non-AC classes under this facility, a day before the actual date of journey, Indian Railways noted on its website indianrail.gov.in. Tatkal train tickets can be booked online from the IRCTC’s website irctc.co.in or from any railway reservation centres. Railway ticketing agents and the web agents of IRCTC are restricted from booking Tatkal tickets during the 10:00 am and 12:00 pm every day, IRCTC added.
IRCTC Tatkal Ticket Booking: Below are the charges levied by Indian Railways for booking Tatkal train tickets:
| Class of Travel | Minimum Tatkal Charges (in Rs.) | Maximum Tatkal Charges (in Rs.) | Minimum Distance for charge(in Km) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reserve Second sitting (2S) | 10.00 | 15.00 | 100 |
| Sleeper | 100.00 | 200.00 | 500 |
| AC Chair Car | 125.00 | 225.00 | 250 |
| AC 3 Tier | 300.00 | 400.00 | 500 |
| AC 2 Tier | 400.00 | 500.00 | 500 |
| Executive | 400.00 | 500.00 | 250 |
| indianrail.gov.in | |||
Here are the rules for booking Indian Railways Tatkal train ticket:
Tatkal train tickets issued by Indian Railways are for travel between actual distance of travel and not on an end-to-end basis, Indian Railways said on its website.
Apart from normal express trains, Tatkal ticket booking facility is also available in executive class of Shatabadi Express trains, by earmarking 10 per cent of the accommodation available that is 5 seats per coach, Indian Railways said.
No refund is granted on cancellation of confirmed Tatkal ticket. However, full refund of fare and Tatkal charges are granted on the tickets booked under Tatkal scheme if the train is delayed by more than three hours at the journey originating point of the passenger and not at the boarding point if the passenger’s journey originating point and boarding point are different.
Maximum of four passengers can be booked on one PNR for Tatkal tickets unlike six passengers under the normal train ticket.
Facility of change of name is permitted on the bookings made under Tatkal scheme.