Tatkal ticket booking on Indian Railways requires preparation, speed and proper training to get a confirmed tatkal ticket for comfortable rail travel as per your desired travel itinerary. Everyone encounters the need for tatkal ticket booking once the general ticket booking is waitlisted and there is no option to travel by your desired train.
Premium Tatkal booking is a unique offering by Indian Railways that allows you an option to get a confirmed railway ticket 24 hours before your train departure by paying a little extra and competing with thousands of users to book rail ticket online. It is very useful for emergency rail travel if needed.
As someone who books tatkal tickets very frequently I thought I would share the tips which I use to help you get a confirmed ticket quickly and easily.
1. Tatkal booking timings
It is very important to know the tatkal booking timings so that the Indian railway ticket booking can be done on time. It is important to know that railway tatkal booking cannot be done at any time in the day and can be done only during specific time for tatkal tickets on the next day
- AC tatkal booking timings are 10:00 a.m. everyday
- Non-AC tatkal booking timings are 11:00 a.m. everyday
Booking during tatkal timings can only be done for tickets for trains on the next day and not on the same day.
It is important again to note that these tatkal tickets will be more expensive than the regular railway ticket booking charges
2. Tatkal booking cancellation charges
It is important to know the Tatkal ticket cancellation charges so that you do not continue to book indiscriminately as a confirmed tatkal ticket is non refundable. This is unlike regular tickets for with some refund can be obtained if the ticket is cancelled few hours to days before the train departure time.
So it means that you cannot continue to book multiple tickets on different trains in the hope that you can cancel them later if they all get confirmed. Because the tatkal booking window is very short therefore it is essential that you focus on only the most essential train which you are interested to book in the tatkal booking.
3. Plan train details in advance
Depending on how busy your train travel sector is there might be many trains on your desired train route and different times.
Since cancellation charges are high and time is short, plan and review the train in which you want to travel and were unable to get a confirmed ticket during the routine Railway ticket booking transaction. Focus on only those few trains and work on them to get the ticket.
4. Use official IRCTC tatkal booking website
The best idea is to use the IRCTC official rail ticketing website https://www.irctc.co.in so that not only can you get the fastest tatkal ticket booking but the confirmation chances are also higher when you go through the official website.
Other third party Rail Ticket Booking websites which offer tatkal booking will have delayed booking timing by a few minutes and will get delayed data. So IRCTC tatkal booking is the fastest way to get a tatkal booking.
5. Login early to avoid the rush
At tatkal booking time when the Tatkal reservation system opens there are expected to be thousands of users who will login in to book tatkal tickets instantly. there will be many rail ticket booking automatic software from travel agents also at work trying to game the system.
This will lead to lot of server load leading to hanging or slowing of website and you might not be able to properly login. It is always best to login 5 to 10 minutes earlier before the tatkal booking time so that you can login a smooth manner.
It might be a bad idea to login from multiple devices from the same internet connection as the IP address will be same and it might be considered as a spam attempt and you might be logged out or might need to solve additional captchas, wasting more time.
Remember to Choose the Tatkal booking option
6. Keep refreshing and prevent logout
It is essential to keep refreshing the screen by browsing various parts of the website so that you do not get logged out of the system.
The website will automatically logout users due to inactivity after few minutes and therefore it is very important that you do not just keep sitting and waiting for the Tatkal train seats to get live but instead keep on doing some activity on the websites so that the IRCTC website system realizes that you are still interested in tatkal ticket booking.
7. Always use passenger master list
If you are interested in booking several rail travelers in a single booking at tatkal booking time then it is very important that you prepare a passenger master list.
This passenger master list can be prepared beforehand which basically has the names, age and seating or meal preferences of all the users and then all the passenger details can be inserted as one click when the passenger details screen pops up after you select the tatkal booking seats on the concerned train.
This will help you fill the passenger details very quickly and instantly and not waste time which is very important as tatkal tickets are booked very fast and by the time you fill the passenger details it is very possible they are booked by other people.
8. Use IRCTC wallet with preloaded cash
I have found that the IRCTC wallet is the fastest way to book tickets online as it is a system which stores your money in the prepaid wallet which is hosted by IRCTC itself. it is better to create an IRCTC wallet and load money inside it beforehand which is more than the amount which you will tend to pay for your total ticket booking.
It’s very easy to create an IRCTC wallet account for free and will require Aadhar card validation and money can be easily loaded with the credit card or bank transfer.
Of course you can use other methods like credit card, UPI and net banking but these processes are dependent again on the banking network speed and again you will have to enter credit card and bank transfer details which are going to take time and time is very important when you are engaged in Tatkal ticket booking.
9. Stable high speed internet
I always prefer to book tatkal tickets on my laptop with a high speed internet connection. I have a 1 Gbps high speed broadband internet connection which enables me to get very quick access to the website without lagging and hanging and quickly enter details on the forms so that internet speed is not a concern when booking tatkal tickets online at the tatkal booking timings. High-speed Wi-Fi connection 5G high speed mobile data is also equally useful.
10. Use desktop computer or laptop
While many find it very fast to book using the mobile application on the IRCTC app, I find it very convenient to use the larger screen of the desktop or laptop because it allows using a regular keyboard which allows easier typing of the captcha and other details while the mouse adds speed to the process of filling the forms and completing the payment which is very critical as every second counts during the tatkal booking process.
I hope you like some of the steps and will practice them during your next railway ticket booking in India.