REVISED TATKAL SCHEME FOR RESERVATION 

     The broad features of the revised Tatkal Scheme are as under: 

  1.                 To meet the urgent travel requirement of the passengers who plan their journey at short notice, Tatkal reservation facility be provided in the train. 

  2.                 The reservation under this scheme can be sought by full fare paying passengers only and no passenger holding concessional ticket may be allowed to avail reservation under this scheme. 

  3.                 The reservation under this scheme will commence at 8.A.M on the previous day for which the reservation is being sought.  

  4.                 There will not be Tatkal train defined separately in PRS.  The Tatkal coaches presently running will be included in the train service composition. The Tatkal accommodation will, therefore, be earmarked as a quota in the train service coach like any other quota.  The Tatkal Scheme will be available in Sleeper, AC Chair Car, AC-3 tier and AC-2 tier classes in all Mail/Express trains including Rajdhani/Shatabdi/Jan Shatabdi Express trains. 

The general guidelines for earmarking of accommodation under this scheme will be as under: - 

a)       To bring uniformity in the accommodation to be earmarked in various classes, the following accommodation shall be earmarked in different classes: - 

                     AC-2 tier 4 berths per coach
            AC-3 tier 6 berths per coach
            AC Chair Car 6 seats per coach

          Sleeper class 10 % of the accommodation or one coach whichever is less 

(b)  The utilisation of berths earmarked as Tatkal accommodation will be periodically reviewed and reduced, if necessary, based on the actual utilisation. 

  5.       The accommodation so earmarked shall be defined in PRS and booking will be done on first come first served basis. 

6.           Earlier a passenger seeking reservation under Tatkal Scheme had to produce any one proof of Identity at the time of booking and was also supposed to carry the same identity card during the journey, failing which he was considered travelling without ticket and excess charged accordingly.  This had led to a number of complaints.  As such it has been decided that as an experimental measure, no proof of identity will be required to be produced by the passenger seeking reservation under Tatkal scheme, either at the time of booking or during the journey.  This provision shall be reviewed after a period of 6 months trial.  

7.           The facility of change of name is not permitted on the bookings made under Tatkal Scheme. 

8.           The premium on Tatkal Scheme on different classes will be as under:- 

    9.           No refund will be permissible on the reservations made under Tatkal scheme.  Even in case the coach, in which accommodation under Tatkal Scheme has been earmarked, is not attached and the accommodation has been provided to the Tatkal passengers in the normal train service in the same class, no refund will be permissible.      However, full refund of fare and Tatkal Charges will be granted on the tickets booked under this scheme in the following circumstances: - 

(i)          If the train is delayed by more than 3 hours from the train originating station;

(ii)        In case of non-attachment of coach in which Tatkal Accommodation has been earmarked and the passenger has not been provided accommodation in the same class. 

(iii)      If the party has been accommodated in lower class and does not want to travel.  In case the party travels in lower class, the passenger will be given refund of difference of fare and also the difference of Tatkal charges, if any. 

10.     For the purpose of granting refunds & issuing TDRs in circumstances mentioned above, the time limit will be the same as applicable for refund of normal tickets. 

11.     The reservation under this scheme shall be available only upto the time of preparation of charts.  At the time of preparation of charts, the vacant Tatkal accommodation shall be released to the RAC/waitlisted passengers and no Tatkal charges shall be realized from such passengers. 

12.              After preparation of charts, there will be no Tatkal accommodation and all vacant accommodation in the train, if any, shall be treated as general accommodation and booked accordingly. The accommodation becoming available in the train due to non-turning up of passengers booked under Tatkal Scheme will be treated like normal train service accommodation and no Tatkal charges shall be realized for such accommodation also. 

13.      The Tatkal charges would be reflected in PRS data under separate field. 

14.      The booking under Tatkal Scheme will be done only from originating to terminating point of the train with boarding facility from intermediate station.   Any passenger boarding from an intermediate station can book Tatkal Accommodation but ticket will be end-to-end and charged accordingly, with permission to board the train from intermediate station. 

In case, the train is originating from or terminating at a less important station from passengers’ traffic point of view, the railways can earmark Tatkal reservation quota at the originating station and one more major important station where the number of berths/seats available for reservation are large, e.g. in case of 2904 Amritsar-Mumbai Central Golden Temple Mail, the railway can earmark Tatkal reservation quota at Amritsar and New Delhi for the passengers going to Mumbai Central from these stations.  The booking against the quota earmarked at Amritsar will be done in respect of journey commencing only from Amritsar and other stations enroute (short of New Delhi) upto Mumbai Central.  Similarly, against the quota earmarked at New Delhi, the booking can be done for journey commencing ex New Delhi and other stations towards Mumbai Central.  The fare will, however, be charged from Amritsar to Mumbai Central for booking against Amritsar quota and from New Delhi to Mumbai Central in case of booking against New Delhi quota irrespective of the station from which the journey is commencing.  

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