Tatkal troubles: 7 in 10 struggle to book tickets online

New Delhi: All does not appear to be well with the Indian Railway’s Tatkal service, which allows travellers to book tickets to trains that usually leave the next day.

Seven out of 10 people found it difficult to book online tickets under the scheme in the last 12 months, saying all tickets became unavailable within a minute of the booking window opening, as a result of which they got waitlisted, according to a recent survey.

Only four in 10 train-travellers surveyed said they believed the best way to get a Tatkal ticket was through the regular online booking process, according to the survey conducted by citizen engagement platform LocalCircles.

Similarly, four in 10 train travellers surveyed, who tried booking a Tatkal ticket in the last 12 months, said they mostly failed to do so.

At least three in 10 surveyed said they believed the best option to get a Tatkal ticket was through a travel agent, according to the survey report.

“This is an indicator that even in this digital age, people believe they must go through a travel agent to secure a Tatkal booking because of either the system deficiencies or unknown forces at the ticketing backend that such agents can access,” said the survey report.

LocalCircles said it conducted this nationwide survey to find out the experiences of people booking Tatkal tickets.

The survey received over 55,000 responses from train travellers located in over 396 districts of the country.

In all, 63 per cent of the respondents were men while 37 per cent were women.

Of the total, 41 per cent respondents were from tier-1 cities, 29 per cent from tier-2 and 30 per cent from tiers-3 and 4, 5 cities and rural districts, according to the survey report.