Tatkal tickets are booked one day before the journey. No refund is given on cancellation of confirmed Tatkal ticket. But, refund is available on cancellation of waitlisted Tatkal tickets or if they remain in waiting list after chart preparation.
New Delhi: Due to sudden circumstances or change in plans, many people may have to travel short or long distances. In such a situation, one way to secure a seat for those traveling by train is Tatkal ticket. It is a booking system for essential travel. Tatkal tickets can be booked one day before the day of journey. Booking starts at 10 am for AC classes and 11 am for non-AC classes. It can be booked online through IRCTC or from the station counter.
Many people have various questions in their minds regarding Tatkal tickets. One of these is the question related to cancellation of Tatkal ticket and its refund. Is there a refund on cancellation of Tatkal ticket? Can Tatkal ticket be cancelled? Are the refund rules of Indian Railways the same as for normal tickets? The answers to these questions will probably be different for everyone. Railway rules related to cancellation of Tatkal tickets are more strict and a bit confusing. Many passengers feel that at least some refund is available on any ticket. But, this is not the case with Tatkal tickets.
In most cases, no refund is available on cancellation of confirmed Tatkal tickets. This means that if you cancel a confirmed Tatkal seat after booking it of your own free will, you will not get the money back. It is clearly stated in the official cancellation guidelines of Railways that under normal circumstances, no refund will be given to the passenger on cancellation of confirmed Tatkal ticket. That is, if your plan changes suddenly, you miss a train, or the ticket is booked on a wrong date and you cancel the confirmed Tatkal ticket, your money will not be refunded.
If you book a waitlisted Tatkal ticket, it is different from the case of a confirmed ticket. Waitlisted Tatkal tickets can be cancelled. You will get a refund just like a normal waitlisted ticket. If you cancel the ticket before charting, the remaining fare will be refunded only after deducting the standard cancellation charge. Once the chart is prepared, IRCTC automatically cancels the waitlisted Tatkal tickets and the refund process starts without you having to do anything.
If the ticket is partially confirmed, the rules are different again. Suppose there is more than one person on one ticket and only some of them have confirmed seats, then special rules apply. If some passengers get seats and the rest remain in the waiting list, the refund will depend on whether the entire ticket is canceled or not. In such cases, if the entire Tatkal ticket is canceled together, a refund will be given to all passengers after deducting the cancellation charges. It is also important to note that if you decide to travel with passengers whose seats have been confirmed and do not cancel the tickets, you cannot later claim a refund on the grounds that some seats were not confirmed.