Tatkal Reservation Scheme was initially introduced by Indian Railways in December, 1997 for providing reservation to those passengers who have to undertake journey at short notice and to save such passengers from the clutches of unscrupulous elements/ touts. Initially this scheme was available only in around 110 trains and mainly in Sleeper Class. The salient features of this scheme as on date are as under:-
- Tatkal booking for AC classes opens at 10:00 a.m. on the previous day of journey excluding date of journey from the train originating station. For non-AC classes, Tatkal booking starts at 11:00 a.m. on the previous day of journey excluding date of journey from the train originating station. For example, if train is to depart from the originating station on the second of the month, the Tatkal quota for that particular train shall open at 10:00/11:00 a.m. on the first of the month.
- The reservation under this scheme can be sought by full fare paying passengers only and no passenger holding concessional ticket is allowed to avail reservation under this scheme.
- The reservation under this scheme is available only upto the time of preparation of charts. At the time of preparation of charts, the vacant Tatkal accommodation is released to the RAC/ waitlisted passengers and no Tatkal charges are realised from such passengers.
- No duplicate Tatkal tickets are issued. Duplicate Tatkal tickets are issued only in exceptional cases on payment of full fare including Tatkal charges.
- The facility of change of name is not permitted on the bookings made under Tatkal scheme.
- In case of tickets booked under Tatkal scheme, during the journey, one of the passengers booked on that ticket is required to produce any one of the prescribed proof of identity mentioned below (in original), failing which all the passengers booked on that ticket are considered as travelling without ticket and charged accordingly:-
1. Voter Photo Identity Card issued by Election Commission of India.
2. PAN Card issued by Income Tax Department
3. Driving Licence issued by RTO
4. Unique Identification Card “Aadhar “.
5. Passport
6. Nationalised Bank Passbook with photograph
7. Photo Identity Card issued by Central/ State Government
8. Credit Cards issued by Banks with laminated photograph.
9. Student Identity Card with photograph issued by recognized School/ College for their students.
10. Photo identity cards having serial number issued by Public Sector Undertakings of State/ Central Government, District Administrations, Municipal bodies and Panchayat Administrations.
REFUNDS: Keeping in view the short Advance Reservation Period and with a view to make this scheme economically unviable for unscrupulous elements/touts, refund rules of the scheme have been made stringent in which no refund is granted on the confirmed Tatkal tickets. However, full refund of fare and Tatkal charges is granted on the tickets booked under Tatkal scheme under certain circumstances like non-attachment of coach, cancellation of train, as explained below:-2. If the train is to run on diverted route and boarding station or the destination or both the stations are not on the diverted route.
3. If the train is to run on a diverted route and passenger is not willing to travel.
4. If the party has been accommodated in lower class and does not want to travel. In case the party travels in lower class, the passenger will be given refund of difference of fare and also the
difference of Tatkal charges, if any.
5. In case of non attachment of coach in which Tatkal accommodation has been earmarked and the passenger has not been provided accommodation in the same class.
- Tatkal charges have been fixed as a percentage of fare at the rate of 10% of basic fare for second class and 30% of basic fare for all other classes subject to minimum and maximum as given in the table below:-
Class of Travel | Minimum Tatkal Charges (Rs ) | Maximum Tatkal Charges (Rs) | Minimum Distance for Charge (Km) |
Reserved Second Sitting (2S) | 10 | 15 | 100 |
Sleeper Class | 100 | 200 | 500 |
AC Chair Car | 125 | 225 | 250 |
AC-3 Tier | 300 | 400 | 500 |
AC-2 Tier | 400 | 500 | 500 |
Executive Class | 400 | 500 | 250 |
In case the total run of the train is less than the distance restriction, end fare i.e. from originating to destination station shall be charged. However, there will be no such restriction for Tatkal scheme in passenger trains.
- Tatkal tickets are issued subject to the applicable distance restrictions.
- It is possible to book a maximum of only four passengers per PNR for Tatkal tickets.
- The web services agents of IRCTC have been permitted to book only one Tatkal ticket per train per day on the internet.
- All authorised ticketing agents of Indian Railways/IRCTC have been restricted from booking Tatkal tickets at the counters between 1000 hours and 1030 hours for tickets in AC classes and between 1100 hours and 1130 hours for non-AC classes.
- The maximum Tatkal accommodation available in a train according to class of travel is as given below:-
Class of Travel | Maximum Tatkal accommodation which can be earmarked in a normal train composition |
Executive Class | 5 seats per coach |
2 AC | 10 Berths Per Coach |
3 AC | 16 Berths Per Coach |
AC Chair Car | 16 Seats Per Coach |
SL | 30% of the accommodation |
Reserved Second Sitting (2S) | 10% of the accommodation |
- Out of the total berth potential of around 13.43 lakhs berths/ seats per day, on an average, around 2.34 lakh seats/ berths are available for booking under Tatkal every day i.e. approximately 17.39% of the total accommodation.
- Instructions have also been issued to zonal Railways to introduce Tatkal Reservation scheme in the passenger trains in that train/ class in which average utilisation during the previous financial year has been more than 60%. The minimum Tatkal charges prescribed for different classes will be applicable as flat Tatkal charges. All other conditions applicable to normal Tatkal scheme will be applicable in case of identified passenger trains.
Source: www.indianrailways.gov.in
