Tatkal tickets for AC class can be booked from 10 am while non-AC from 11 am
To provide reservation to passengers who have to undertake a train journey at short notice, Tatkal reservation was initially introduced in 1997. Some modifications have been made in Tatkal schemes from time to time. Tatkal tickets can be booked one day in advance excluding the date of journey from the train originating station, according to IRCTC's website. Tatkal tickets for AC class can be booked from 10 am while non-AC from 11 am. For example, if the train is to depart from the originating station on June 30, Tatkal booking for AC class will commence at 10 am for non-AC class at 11 am on June 29. For booking Tatkal e-tickets, each of the passengers (mandatory for at least one passenger) can enter his/her ID proof type and number against his/her name in reservation form, which is to be used for travel, IRCTC's website says. IRCTC also says that during the journey, at least one passenger, whose identity card number has been indicated on the ticket, will have to produce original proof of identity indicated on the ticket, failing which all the passengers booked on the ticket will be treated as travelling without ticket and charged accordingly.
Here are some other things to know about Tatkal reservation:
Maximum four passengers per PNR can be booked on Tatkal e-ticket
Tatkal charges per passenger is in addition to normal ticket
No refund will be granted on cancellation of confirmed Tatkal tickets except in some circumstances.
The reservation under the Tatkal 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 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:-
Tatkal charges
| Class of travel | Minimum Tatkal charges (in Rs.) | Maximum Tatkal charges (in Rs.) | Minimum distance for charge (in km) |
| Second (sitting) | 10 | 15 | 100 |
| Sleeper | 100 | 200 | 500 |
| AC Chair Car | 125 | 225 | 250 |
| AC 3 Tier | 300 | 400 | 500 |
| AC 2 Tier | 400 | 500 | 500 |
| Executive | 400 | 500 | 250 |
Premium Tatkal Facility: From October 2014, in some selected trains a premium tatkal facility was introduced and tickets are sold on dynamic pricing. Fares go up depending on percentage of berths sold, subject to a maximum cap.