IRCTC Tatkal Train Booking: Five Tips To Book Confirmed Tickets This Diwali 2025

IRCTC Tatkal Ticket Booking Tips: With Diwali and Chhath festivals round the corner, Indian Railways expects a massive surge in passenger traffic. People across India, particularly in the north, are expected to travel to their hometowns for festive celebrations.

Every year, the festive rush leads to high demand for train tickets, making last-minute travel a challenge for passengers. In such situations, Tatkal ticket booking is the last hope for those who fail to plan their journey in advance.

However, securing a Tatkal ticket is often difficult due to the limited availability of seats and an unexpected surge in demand during this time of the year.

To ease the rush and improve the booking experience, Indian Railways introduced several reforms earlier this year. Its upgraded booking system, requiring Aadhaar authentication for all Tatkal trains, has helped genuine passengers to get tickets.

To streamline online bookings, Indian Railways introduced new Aadhaar-based guidelines for ticket reservations from July 1. As per the new rules, only Aadhaar-authenticated users are allowed to book Tatkal tickets on the IRCTC website and app. Moreover, authorised agents are not allowed to book Tatkal tickets during the first 30 minutes of the booking window.

Starting July 15, the Indian Railways made Aadhaar-based OTP authentication mandatory for all online Tatkal bookings. From Oct. 1, during the first 15 minutes of the general reservation window, only users with Aadhaar authentication can book reserved general tickets online. These reforms aim to curb misuse and reduce bot activity for ticket bookings.

1. To improve the chances of booking a confirmed Tatkal train ticket, passengers are advised to prepare in advance. They must keep the passenger and payment details ready in advance, ahead of the opening of the Tatkal ticket booking window.

2. IRCTC allows users to create a "master list" with Aadhaar-based authentication, storing details like name, age, seat preference, and meal choice. This helps speed up the booking process by helping passengers save time.

3. For faster bookings, passengers are advised to use payment methods like UPI. They can also store the payment amount in the IRCTC wallet for quicker processing.

4. Passengers may also consider alternate routes or trains with lower demand to secure a guaranteed seat. The Indian Railways announces multiple special trains on busy routes to meet the demand during the festive season.

5. Passengers can also use the ‘IRCTC Tatkal Magic Autofill’, a Chrome extension tool that helps users quickly fill in passenger details during Tatkal ticket booking. By saving pre-filled information, it auto-completes forms instantly.