Indian Railway and Catering Tourism Corporation Limited (IRCTC) allows users to book Tatkal tickets online through its website irctc.co.in. Tatkal reservation is a facility to provide reservation to passengers who have to undertake a journey at a short notice. Tatkal tickets can be booked one day in advance excluding the date of journey from the train originating station.

In case you do not have an account on irctc.co.in, see the registration process here: How to register as a new user online on IRCTC

A maximum of four passengers per PNR can be booked on Tatkal e-tickets. The Advance Reservation Period (ARP) of Tatkal scheme is reduced from two days to one day excluding the day of journey from the train originating station.

Once you have a registered account, login to your IRCTC account and follow these steps:

  • Click on the ‘Plan My Journey’ page.
  • Choose the origin and destination stations under the ‘From/To’ option. If the From/To station selected by you are correct in the route of the train go to ‘Date of Journey’.
  • Select Ticket Type as e-ticket and click on submit.
  • The Advance Reservation Period (ARP) of Tatkal scheme is reduced from two days to one day excluding the day 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 booking for that particular train will open at 10:00 hrs for AC class (1A/2A/3A/CC/EC/3E)and at 11:00 hrs for Non- AC class(SL/FC/2S) class on the first of the month from originating station.
  • When the ‘Train List’ page appears, select Quota as TATKAL by click on the radio button  
  • Find the train and click on the class in the train list. It will show the details with availability.
  • To book tickets, click on the ‘Book Now’ link under availability option.
  • If you wish to select other train, click on another train class link.
  • Maximum of four passengers per PNR can be booked on Tatkal e-tickets.
  • When the Ticket Reservation page appears; check whether the train name and station names, Date of journey, Class, Quota, Boarding Point etc. displayed on the top of the page are same as entered by you.
  • Enter the name of passengers, age, gender and berth preference for each passenger. The maximum length of names should be restricted to 15 characters.
  • Senior citizen concession is not allowed in Tatkal Quota.
  • Click on ‘Consider for Auto Upgradation for automatic class upgradation after charting.
  • Enter the verification code and passenger mobile number to receive the booking and cancellation SMS
  • Proceed to the ‘Payment’ page where you can choose the mode of payment i.e., credit card, netbanking, payment wallet etc.
  • After successful payment and booking, the user is shown the ticket confirmation details along with a ‘Print ERS’ Button.
  • On clicking the button ERS is shown with an option to print your ticket.

You can cancel Tatkal tickets but no refund will be granted on cancellation of confirmed Tatkal tickets. For contingent cancellation and waitlisted Tatkal ticket cancellations, charges will be deducted as per existing Railway rules. No concession is allowed in Tatkal Booking.

The 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 (in Rs.) Maximum Tatkal Charges (in Rs.)
Second (sitting) 10 15
Sleeper 90 175
AC Chair Car 100 200
AC 3 Tier 250 350
AC 2 Tier 300 400
Executive 300 400