Booking to Tatkal Tickets & Measures to Avoid Misuse of Tatkal Scheme

Ministry of Railways

Booking to Tatkal Tickets & Measures to Avoid Misuse of Tatkal Scheme

On Indian Railways, reserved accommodation including Tatkal accommodation can be booked through computerised Passenger Reservation System (PRS) on first come first served basis. During peak rush periods/days when demand outstrips the availability, reserved accommodation especially in higher classes and on popular routes gets exhausted within short duration of opening of reservation. However, during lean periods, on non-popular and lower classes, the accommodation remains available for longer duration. The phenomenon is more relevant for Tatkal where limited accommodation is earmarked. This happens as the available limited accommodation is accessed simultaneously through more than 10,300 counters at 3465 computerised Passenger Reservation Centers as well as through internet.

To avoid misuse of Tatkal Scheme, there are some inbuilt features in Tatkal scheme which includes provision of not granting refund on cancellation of confirmed Tatkal tickets except in case of certain special circumstances indicated in the scheme, not allowing any modification of Tatkal ticket, etc. Some additional steps have also been taken to facilitate the passengers and to avoid the misuse, some of which are:-

• Staggering of the timings of reservation under Tatkal scheme.
• Captcha implementation in Registration, Login and Booking page to check fraudulent booking through automation software.
• Imposition of minimum time limit before proceeding for payment gateway as well as after making payment while booking tickets through internet.
• Making OTP(one time password) compulsory for all net Banking Payment options.
• Disabling authorised agents to book Tatkal tickets during first half an hour of opening of reservation.

To keep a check on the activities of touts, preventive as well as regular checks are conducted jointly/individually by Vigilance, Security and Commercial Departments, and the action against the culprits is taken as per provisions of Section 143 of Railways Act, 1989.

This information was made available in reply to a question in Rajya Sabha.

Source: PIB

Railway Tatkal booking charges revised

Railway Tatkal booking charges revised

Indian Railways has increased Tatkal charges from Rs.10 to Rs.100. The maximum reservation charges for A.C. Third Class, has been increased from Rs.350 to Rs.400. The minimum charges have been increased from Rs.250 to Rs.300.

Indian Railways increases Tatkal charges  – Increased by Rs 10 – Rs.100  for various classes.

Indian Railways has announced increase in Taktal ticket charges from the minimum train passenger fare will go up from Rs 10 (in the reserved second sitting) to Rs 100 (in the highest executive category).

The maximum reservation charges for A.C. Third Class, has been increased from Rs.350 to Rs.400. The minimum charges have been increased from Rs.250 to Rs.300. For the Second Class A.C., the maximum Tatkal reservation charges have been increased to Rs.500. The minimum charges have been increased to Rs.400. There are no changes of rates for the Second Class Seating coaches.

The revised rates will be applicable from December 25, 2015.

Class of Travel	Minimum Tatkal Charges (in Rs)	Maximum Tatkal Charges (in Rs)
Second (sitting)Sleeper	Earlier 90Earlier 175	Revised 100Revised 200
AC Chair Car	Earlier 100Earlier 200	Revised 125Revised 225
AC 3 Tier	Earlier 250Earlier 350	Revised 300Revised 400
AC 2 Tier	Earlier 300Earlier 400	Revised 400Revised 500
Executive	Earlier 300Earlier 400	Revised 400Revised 500

Source : India Today

Tatkal bookings’ charges increased from December 25

Tatkal bookings’ charges increased from December 25

The Railways have increased the reservation charges for Tatkal tickets. The revised rates will come into effect from December 25 onwards.

According to a press release from the Railways, The maximum reservation charges for sleeper class under the Tatkal scheme has been increased from Rs.175 to Rs.200. The minimum charges have been increased from Rs.90 to Rs.100. The maximum and minimum charges will depend on the distance to be travelled.

The maximum reservation charges for A.C. Third Class, has been increased from Rs.350 to Rs.400. The minimum charges have been increased from Rs.250 to Rs.300. For the Second Class A.C., the maximum Tatkal reservation charges have been increased to Rs.500. The minimum charges have been increased to Rs.400. There are no changes of rates for the Second Class Seating coaches.




Source: irctc news

Separate counters to women passengers for buying train tickets

Separate counters to women passengers for buying train tickets

Facilities for Women Passengers for buying Train Tickets at Reservation Counters

Ministry of Railways has been providing special facilities to women passengers for conveniently buying tickets at railway reservation counters. The Ministry has further elaborated facilities as follows: –

(a) At computerized reservation office, a separate reservation counter should be earmarked for ladies if the average demand per shift is not less than 120 tickets.

(b) In case, there is no justification for earmarking of exclusive counter for ladies, the requests received from ladies should be dealt with along with the reservation requests of the specific categories viz. senior citizen, physically handicapped, ex. MPs, MLAs, accredited journalists, freedom fighters etc.

(c) At those reservation offices where separate reservation counters have not been earmarked for ladies and also those locations which have not been computerized, ladies/female passengers should not be compelled to join the general queues and be attended to separately at the same counter as for general passengers. A suitable notice board about the availability of this facility should also be displayed near the reservation counter. This facility will however be available only from 11:30 hours to avoid misuse of this facility by unscrupulous elements to block accommodation during opening hours of general and Tatkal reservation.

(d) Ladies may be allowed to purchase tickets from these reservation counters irrespective of persons for whom the reservation is being sought. However, no other persons will be allowed to purchase ticket for them from these counters.

(e) As far as earmarking of separate unreserved ticket counters for ladies, zonal Railways have been asked to assess the demand and do the needful based on the same.

Source: PIB News

Tatkal booking likely to get easier – IRCTC

Tatkal booking likely to get easier – IRCTC

“Attempts are being made to simplify the extremely popular Tatkal reservation system.”

Tatkal booking is a blessing in disguise for train travelers who urgently need tickets, but the process of booking tickets on this system could be a constant source of irritation. Though plenty of reasons are attributed to it, the main grouse is the slow server connectivity and the IRCTC website’s inability to handle multiple user load.

Addressing this issue, Sandeep Dutta, the Chief Public Relation Officer of IRCTC, which is a sister concern of the Indian Railways, said, “All over the country, more than ten lakh tickets are reserved everyday, of which about 50% is booked through IRCTC.

“On the Tatkal system, between 10 AM and 12 PM, nearly 1.5 lakh tickets are booked everyday on the IRCTC website. In the beginning the website server was able to book only 7000 tickets per minute. Now, it has been raised to 14,000 e-tickets per minute.

“When users all over the country try to reserve tickets on Tatkal at the same time, the website crashes due to the overload. This has constantly been a huge challenge for IRCTC. Despite the fact that IRCTC has given a number of facilities, its reputation suffers due to this.

To tackle this problem, IRCTC decided to purchase five new world-class Singapore-based servers. These servers will be added to the main IRCTC server in another ten days. User capacity will increase from 14,000 to 24,000 per minute maximum. There will not be any website crash after that.

So, Tatkal reservation is going to become much more user-friendly.

Source: www.cgstaffnews.in