TATKAL TICKETS - HOW TO AVOID?

AVOID TATKAL BOOKINGS

1) GO FOR GENERAL QUOTA:

Tickets to your destination will be waitlisted. However, the next major station may fall under General quota.

Example, in Nellai express your Madurai quota will be waitlisted but tickets will be available upto Kovilpatti. You can alaways book upto Kovilpatti and get down at Madurai. You pay Rs.20 extra per passenger, but this is still a very nominal sum as compared to tatkal charges.               

In return cases, you can book tickets in general quota source station and select the boarding point at your chosen station. For example, in Mannai Exp, book from Nidamangalam to Chennai and choose boarding station as Kumbakonam.

Some trains and their Open Quota stations are:

Destination	Train	General quota station
Tiruchy Madurai Karaikudi Kumbakonam, Thanjavur Bangalore Palakkad Ernakulam	Rameswaram Exp Silambu Exp Nellai Exp Pothigai Exp Muthunagar Exp Ananthapuri Exp Sethu Exp Rameswaram Exp Mannai Exp Rameswaram Exp Kaveri Exp Mysore Exp Aleppy Exp Trivandrum Mail	Pudukkottai Kovilpatti Tituttangal Tirumangalam Tirunelveli Paramakudi Egmore to Karaikudi Nidamangalam Pudukkottai Mandya Kengeri Trichur Kottayam

Not only on these trains, but all trains have general quota stations. If you need to go to Pune from Chennai, choose Kalyan junction instead of Pune. Your tickets will be at General quota instead of Pooled quota.

2) SELECT WEEKLY TRAINS:

Most commoners are not aware of weekly trains. So these trains do not get filled up as fast as a regular train.

For example, Pandian Exp is filled up faster than Madurai Exp (via Thanjavur). So go for these weekly trains by listing the available trains on your travel date:

Few weekly trains are given below:

Destination	Train	Days of operation
Tiruchy Madurai Karaikudi Kumbakonam, Thanjavur Bangalore	Madurai Exp (22623) Silambu Exp Madurai Exp (22623) Nagercoil Exp (2667) Silambu Exp Madurai Exp(22623) Mysore Exp Sai Prasanthi Exp	Fri, Sun Wed, Sat Fri,Sun Thu Wed, Sat Fri, Sun Thursday Friday

SAVE ON TRAIN TICKETS

SAVE ON RAILWAY FARES

With ever increasing fares of train tickets, we need to follow few rules to reduce the cost of train travel.

1) USE THE PRS:

Internet ticket booking has turned costly. Rs.23 service charge + Rs.8 for your bank services, you end up paying Rs.30 extra per ticket.

If you are 100% sure of a travel plan, use the nearest Reservation counter to book the tickets. Most counters are free except 10am to 12 noon (Tatkal booking) and you can book the tickets without sparing Rs.30 extra.

2)REDUCE CANCELLATION CHARGES:

Cancellation charges can be reduced, if not avoided completely. Book the tickets when it reaches RAC50. This way, when you want to cancel – the chart would have moved up to RAC10 and you end up losing Rs.30 instead of Rs.60 (on a confirmed ticket).

If you plan to travel also, its not a problem as RAC50 will be definitely cleared to confirmation. This is a small risk you take for reducing the cancellation charges to half.

3)USE SHORT DISTANCE TRAIN:

Some trains take a circuitous route for reaching a destination. Always list down trains (from Indian railways website) and choose the shortest distance.

Destination	Short distance fare (Rs.)	Long distance fare (Rs.)
Chennai to Rameswaram Chennai to Hyderabad Chennai to Karaikudi	Sethu Exp – 330 Hyderabad Exp – 405 Silambu Exp - 255	Rameswaram Exp – 355 Charminar Exp – 425 Rameswaram Exp - 280

4) SELECT NON-SUPERFAST TRAINS:

Select non-superfast trains to a destination and save Rs.30 per passenger. Few trains are:

Destination	Non-superfast train
Madurai, Tirunelveli Hyderabad Bengaluru	Ananthapuri Exp Kacheguda Exp Kaveri Exp

Use website to list down trains. There may be special weekly trains that may be non-superfast. Book accordingly.

5) AVOID TATKAL BOOKINGS:

Tatkal bookings are frustrating and are 50% to 60% higher than regular fares. Also

-         no refund on cancellation (what if you are caught in a traffic jam)

-         no senior citizen concession

-         fares calculated till the final destination and not your destination

How to avoid tatkal bookings? Refer the next chapter.