Starting 10 AM today, rail travellers will have a separate two-hour time window until 12 PM to book Tatkal tickets.
This amendment in the Tatkal scheme is expected to minimise the possibility of middlemen cornering Tatkal tickets.
During this two-hour period, only travellers can book tickets both at the counters or through the website .
Agents authorised by Indian Railways to book tickets can book under the Tatkal scheme only after 12 pm. This restriction on agents is applicable both across the counter and through the Internet.
Booking for Tatkal starts at 10 AM on the day prior to the date of journey. For instance, one may book a Tatkal ticket on August 14 for trains departing on August 15.
Earlier Tatkal booking used to start at 8AM leading to a huge strain on Indian Railways’ servers.
Changes in booking
Meanwhile, the Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), has introduced several changes for booking Tatkal tickets on the Internet.
Individual users are permitted to book only two tickets from 10 AM to 12 PM. Only two tickets can be booked from one IP address between 10 AM and 12 PM.
Users will now be able to open his account to book Tatkal tickets between 10 AM and 12 PM only once. This will enable maximum users to access Tatkal tickets.
IRCTC has disabled the quick book option and cash card option between 10 AM and 12 PM.
To serve the increasing web traffic, railways has installed high capacity database servers and increased the Internet bandwidth from 344 MBPS to 450 MBPS.
It has also installed Captcha, a technology used to prevent automated software from cornering Tatkal tickets by fraudulent means.
Web service agents will now be allowed to book only one Tatkal ticket per train per day and that too only after 12 PM.
Anti-IT fraud squad
An anti-IT fraud squad has been created to detect cases of fraud and to enhance cyberspace surveillance against possible threats to the system.
Agents against whom complaints are received will be blacklisted and their user-id deactivated. A list of such agents will also be put on the IRCTC website.
The railways expects e-ticket bookings to increase from 3.5 lakh per day as on date to five lakh per day in the next four months. It eventually expects the number of e-ticket bookings to increase to about eight lakh per day in the long term.
Keywords: Tatkal bookings, Railways, IRCTC, e-ticket booking, www.irctc.co.in, agents, ticket counters, Internet, rail travellers, IRCTC website
Comments:
IRCTC feels there are only 5 lakh people in this small India. Earlier by 8 Am traffic was high, now it will be from 10. IRCTC should re think & must come out with another plan. The more you increase server more will be the logins & more will be the server hangouts, counters with am-full of ques for tatkal booking @ counter.. A better plan is a must.
This is a sad commentary on the society that such measures even had to
be taken
"Only two tickets can be booked from one IP address between 10 am and 12 noon".
Dear Railway authorities. Indian family today consists of ATLEAST minimum of four members. (Gone are those days when joint families are a norm) Not just wife and Husband. A min of four tickets per IP has to be allowed. Families members bond more during the long journeys. As such Indian family structure is breaking. Please do not break it any further.
If we are planning a trip with families, I agree that we shall plan well in advance, but with the hectic schedule at offices, we may not be able to plan 3/4 months in advance to book a ticket for the entire family of 6-7 members. Hence we have to rely on Tatkal system. But allowing only two tickets is just going to break the family further and will not be sufficient. Please make it atleast 4 tickets "with same family name" per IP.
Dr. Anil
""please Allow irctc agents to book normal tickets from 8am to 12 noon."" please allow us to survive in this country.
Kudos to Railways for atleast bringing special rules for tatkal bookings - better late than never. My sincere request for a seperate que for the tatkal buying passengers during the alloted time slot i.e 10.00 a.m. to 12.a.m. ... Thanks
Dr. Anil, You can book only once during that period of tatkal timing. However you can book 4 tickets at once. Once you proceed to Ticket Reservation page, you can enter 4 names in the given form. Don't worry and enjoy your vacation with your family. Thanks,
Railway has to make a rule for line arrangement.
Why not having an option in ATM Centres . By this we can leverage the servers of banks and also reduce the Q in Railway Station.
There should be a helpline number displayed at each Booking counters, so that a common man can inform about the misuse by touts and agents and that number shoud be responded by COPS immediately.
I am an agent of IRCTC from Calcutta my code no.is oss4333 aged 61 year. Now I have to book ticket for my customer to earn my squre meals for last seven years.It is very difficult to meet my needs.IRCTC now Locked the tickets from 08.00 Hrs.to12.00 Hrs for us .After the time bar shall we get any tickets for our customer?.To day I won"t book any ticket.I am requesting to Ministry of Railways & also Ministry of Finance to do something for us to survive in this country with head high. I have a suggestion to Railways pl stop the TATKAL ticket from all Agents but allow us to book the NON-TATKAL tkts.from 08.00 hrs.to 12.00hrs& keep regular vigil on hackers and corrupt Railway employees for our survival because Darwin's theory is totally failed in this criteria for some frauds.
If we are planning a trip with families, I agree that we shall plan well in advance, but with the hectic schedule at offices, we may not be able to plan 3/4 months in advance to book a ticket for the entire family of 6-7 members. Hence we have to rely on Tatkal system. But allowing only two tickets is just going to break the family further and will not be sufficient. Please make it atleast 4 tickets "with same family name.
I feel, the new system can check the fraudulent use of tatkal tickets & blackmarketing by the Agents/some miscreants. Thanks to the Railway board for introducing such a scheme for tatkal tickets which will definitely help all of us. A request - Since, normally, a family consists of 4/5 mebers, the restrictions of 2 tickets only may be re-looked after gaining some experience in the new system. Thanks,
Dr. Anil two tatkal tickets mean upto 8 persons can travel. On a single tatkal ticket 4 persons can travel.
please allow 4 tickets in 1 IP adress for a Indian family.please concern
the passengers request.
Users will now be able to open his account to book tatkal tickets between 10 am and 12 noon only once.
What is the use of this restriction .. there is already restriction of 2 tickets per IP address.
If my internet connection fails i need to re log in again to book tickets. Will the system not allow me to log in if connection times out or internet connection fails?
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