Tatkal
Also known as: Tatkal booking, Tatkal quota, last-minute train booking India
IRCTC's last-minute train booking scheme — opens exactly one day before travel at 10:00 a.m. for AC classes and 11:00 a.m. for sleeper class, with a small fee and limited inventory.
Tatkal is the Indian Railways scheme for booking train tickets one day before travel — designed for urgent and emergency travel that regular advance booking cannot accommodate. The booking window opens at exactly 10:00 a.m. IST for AC classes (First AC, Two-Tier AC, Three-Tier AC) and 11:00 a.m. IST for sleeper class and second sitting, on the day before the journey.
A fixed quota of Tatkal seats is reserved per train per class — typically 10-30% of total seats. For popular routes, this inventory is exhausted within 60-90 seconds of the window opening. The Tatkal fee adds 30% to 100% on top of the base fare depending on class and distance. ID proof of the passenger is mandatory during the journey for Tatkal-booked tickets.
Tatkal booking has two key constraints in 2026: (1) refunds are not allowed except in specific scenarios (train cancellation, route diversion, journey not undertaken on cancelled chart) — confirmed Tatkal tickets that the passenger cancels themselves receive zero refund; (2) one IRCTC account can book a maximum of 4 Tatkal tickets per day. The fastest booking experiences come from saved passenger profiles, the IRCTC iPay payment gateway with UPI Lite enabled, and clean network — most Tatkal failures stem from authentication delays rather than slow form-filling.