IRCTC Tatkal booking: Tips to get confirmed railway ticket during Dasara, Diwali season

New Delhi, Sep 24: With the festive and long weekends about to begin, people are planning to travel to their native places or getting ready to go on trips.

In India, affordable travelling easily remains the Indian Railways. However, there will be mad rush for tickets during peak season in the country with a 1.38 billion population.

Especially during Navaratri (Dasara), Diwali and Christmas seasons, the demand for tickets reaches to unprecedented levels.

While some plan their trip well in advance to get confirmed tickets, it is not possible for everyone. There is always something called last-minute changes and plans.

For such people, the railways allot tickets through 'Tatkal' booking. The price of the tickets will be higher than the normal tickets, but again, getting confirmed tickets is not an easy task during festive season even if you are willing to pay higher rates for tickets.

All About Tatkal Booking
If you are planning a Tatkal e-ticket you should know that it can be booked for select trains one day in advance excluding the date of journey from the train originating station.

The Tatkal train ticket can be booked on an opening day from 10 am for AC class (2A/3A/CC/EC/3E) and at 11 am for Non- AC class(SL/FC/2S).

For example, if a train departs from the originating station on July 2, 'Tatkal' booking will commence at 10 am for AC class AC class (2A/3A/CC/EC/3E) and at 11 am for Non- AC class(SL/FC/2S) on July 1.

Here we are giving you some tips to get confirmed tickets:

A simple trick that one can adopt is to try booking tickets from multiple accounts. It only increases chances of getting confirmed tickets. In case if you have only one account, create a new one in the name of your spouse or brother or any other family member. Please do not use the same account credentials from different systems or app.

Keep checking the IRCTC website to ensure that you understand the 'tatkal' trends. Also, on some occasions, the booking might open early. So, it is advised to visit the website often.

Always have your ID card details like PAN or Aadhard Card of the passengers along with Credit Card details or netbanking credentials. This helps.

Create a master list of the travellers with all the passenger information. This can be used while booking process which saves a lot of time.

Calculate the cost of the tickets in advance including service tax and ensure that you have the sufficient balance in your account. It is because even if you are short of Rs 1, your ticket will not get confirmed.

Pick the train with most number of tickets.

Login into IRCTC website before the Tatkal booking begins. If it begins at 11 am, you should have login at least by 10.50 am.

As soon as the booking begins, you should have filled in your journey details including boarding point, destination, etc. Only thing you should be entering after the Tatkal opens is to enter captcha and complete payment process.

In case if you are booking for AC classes, try to book 2A before 3A as 3A tickets sold faster than 2A.

It is said that Netbanking process can be completed faster than Credit Card payment.

It is always good to test your luck for AC tickets (booking open at 10 am) before trying to book for non-AC tickets (booking open at 11 am).

Another important tip is never to enter preferences. If you have selected a window seat or upper berth, the algorithm has a strange way to allot the ticket with the least preferences. However, this is not officially confirmed by the railway authorities.