Railway’s big announcement on Tatkal ticket: In the first 10 minutes, only common passengers will be able to book, know the new rule!

Indian Railways has made a major and significant change in its fastest and demanding ticket booking service, Tatkal. Now common passengers will be more easy to get Tatkal tickets, while middlemen and agents will be tightened. This decision has brought a big relief for millions of passengers who often struggled to get Tatkal tickets.

What is this new and important decision of Railways?

Following a instruction from the Railway Board, IRCTC (Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation) has implemented a strict rule regarding Tatkal ticket booking. According to this new rule, only those users will be able to book tickets during the opening 10 minutes of starting Tatkal ticket booking. This simply means that IDs of agents or unauthorized operators will no longer work for the first 10 minutes. They have to wait for 10 minutes to book quota immediately.

Why was this decision taken?

This step has been taken to prevent inconvenience to passengers and the hoarding of tickets by agents. Previously, using agents or some special software, they used to boil all the seats of quota immediately, so that the common man could not book his tickets even if he wanted. This new rule will give better and equitable access to the immediate seats of IRCTC, which will give a lot of relief to the last minute travel plan.

When does immediate booking start?

The timing of immediate booking will remain the same:

• AC Class Tatkal tickets: The booking starts at 10 am before the journey.

• Non-AC Class Tatkal tickets (eg sleeper, second seating): The booking starts at 11 am a day before the journey.

Now in these first 10 minutes, only people with individual ID will be able to book tickets.

Other important rules related to Tatkal ticket booking:

• Two ticket limits: Only 2 Tatkal tickets can be booked between 10 am and 12 am with an IRCTC ID.

• Four ticket limit: A user is not allowed to book more than 4 Tatkal tickets a day with an IP address.

• Use of software and bot: Booking Tatkal tickets using any unauthorized software, bot, or third-party application is completely restricted and illegal. Doing so can lead to strict legal action.

• Mobile number verification: During ticket booking, IRCTC may ask you to use OTP (One Time Password) to verify your mobile number once to prevent the use of several accounts by agents.