Tatkal system failure or scam? 70% say tickets vanish in seconds; 3 in 10 rely on agents: Survey

Hyderabad: Booking tickets is never an easy task with all the double-checking of names, dates and ensuring accurate navigation of the payment gateways. But many say that Indian Railways takes all that pressure to another level.

As per a LocalCircles survey, 7 in 10 persons who had difficulty in booking Tatkal tickets online in the last 12 months say all tickets became unavailable within one minute of booking opening, and they got waitlisted.

Many have taken to social media, tagging Indian Railways, to express their distress in booking tatkal tickets. The complaints include the railways site not opening at 10 am, payments being completed without tickets being issued and the website/app crashing due to the visitor load, among others.

What is the Tatkal system?

For those waitlisted for a railway journey or wanting to travel urgently on a fully booked train, tatkal tickets can be a good opportunity to get a confirmed ticket. It allows travellers a window to book tickets on short notice, usually a day before the travel. Tatkal booking opens at 10 am for AC classes and 11 am for non-AC classes. No refund is provided for cancelled or confirmed tatkal tickets.

The tatkal system was introduced in 1997, and according to the railways, its purpose was to provide a last-minute booking interval without having to deal with agents.

However, now, as a solution to the accessibility issues, 3 in 10 surveyed believe the best option to get tatkal ticket is through a travel agent.

The role that agents have in capturing tatkal booking slots

When introduced by Indian Railways, it was expected to be a transparent online system that would eliminate touts and free up access to tickets for everyone. However, for some time, passenger complaints have been mounting about how hard it is to secure a tatkal ticket online, and one must go through agents to secure a ticket.

This raises questions among many whether there is a system working behind the scenes that has an advantage over them.

Many are doubting that IRCTC is favouring agents, who, for a price, can book tatkal tickets more smoothly. The LocalCircles mentioned a season traveller who has written that, as against over 90 per cent probability of getting a tatkal ticket in 2014, currently it is only 1-5 per cent, depending on whether it is done online or through the railways counter.

As one social media user has stated, “Tatkal booking on IRCTC has become a joke.” Is tatkal booking really a scam or a mismanaged system?

Bulk bookings behind the screens in 2015

It must be noted that after hundreds of such complaints with regular ticket booking in 2015 on LocalCircles, the platform had raised a similar issue for regular quota train ticketing to the Ministry of Railways.

The ministry did a detailed investigation and root cause analysis via the CRIS railway system, and it was found that an agent network working with certain railway staff had created a system where bulk bookings were created in fake names upon train reservation opening, and the names were changed later.

Railways, in 2015-16, said it plugged the loophole, making sure that the common traveller was not disadvantaged.

Increase in revenue for railways

The difficulty in booking tatkal tickets seems incompatible with Indian Railways’ substantial rise in passenger revenue, alongside growth from freight transport.

The national rail carrier earned Rs 7.02 lakh crore from freight services between 2019 and 2024. During the same period, passenger revenue amounted to Rs 2.41 lakh crore.

A major contributor to this is the premium tatkal and flexi fares, which have greatly benefited the railways. Railways earned approximately 5 per cent of its total revenue from flexi fare, tatkal and premium tatkal tickets from 2018-19 to 2022-23, the Parliament was informed last year.

Over the five-year period, the railways generated Rs 13,737 from tatkal and premium tatkal ticket categories. Implemented in sleeper and AC classes to target holiday travellers, the premium tatkal quota now requires passengers to pay three times the usual fare to secure a berth in some popular trains. These high-demand trains also feature flexi fares where the ticket price increases with the demand.

4 in 10 train travellers failed to book a tatkal ticket

Coming back to the survey, out of 18,851, who were asked ‘when you attempted to book a railway ticket online under Tatkal Quota in the last 12 months, how often were you successful?’ only 10 per cent stated ‘always or 100% of the time.’ As much as 29 per cent of respondents stated ‘never.’

By adding up data about travellers who had a varying booking experience between these two, we can see that 4 in 10 train travellers surveyed who tried booking a tatkal ticket in the last 12 months mostly failed to do so.

‘Tickets disappear in a minute’

Another question on the survey was, “What issues have you faced when attempting to book a railway ticket online under Tatkal Quota in the last 12 months?”

Some among 18,611 rail travellers who responded to the question indicated more than one issue. As much as 73 per cent of respondents stated that ‘within the first minute after booking opened, all tickets got booked and we got waitlisted’; 73 per cent of respondents stated that ‘the system displayed seats available when the booking opened but by the time we tried to pay, the seats became not available’; 18 per cent of respondents state that they ‘faced other issues than the ones listed above’; 14 per cent of respondents stated that they ‘did not face any issues’ and 4 per cent of respondents did not give a clear answer.

To sum up, 7 in 10 train travellers surveyed who had difficulty booking a tatkal railway ticket online in the last 12 months said that within the first minute after booking opened, all tickets got booked, and they got waitlisted.

Over 3 in 10 believe the best option is to go through a travel agent

The survey asked, “If you have to get a Tatkal Quota railway ticket, what do you believe is the best option?” Out of 18,245 who responded to the question 32 per cent stated that they ‘use a travel/ticket agent to book it.’

To sum up the data from other respondents who have had a moderate experience, only 4 in 10 train travellers surveyed believe that if they need a tatkal railway ticket, the best way to get it is through the regular online booking process; over 3 in 10 believe the best option is to go through a travel agent.

The results are an indicator that, even in this digital age, because of either the system deficiencies or unknown forces at the ticketing backend that travel agents have access to, people believe that they must go through a travel agent to secure a Tatkal booking.

Extent of survey

LocalCircles has conducted a national survey to find out about their experiences of booking tatkal tickets. The survey received over 55,000 responses from train travellers located in over 396 districts of the country. 63 per cent of respondents were men, while 37 per cent of respondents were women. 41 per cent of respondents were from tier 1,29 per cent from tier 2, and 30 per cent of respondents were from tier 3 and 4, 5 and rural districts.