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New Delhi: From July 10, reservation of tatkal tickets will start from 10 am instead of 8 am and no authorised agents will be allowed to book them during the first two hours, Railways today said
'Railways have decided that from July 10 booking of tatkal ticket will start at 10 am on the previous day of journey from train originating station instead of 8 am at present,' said a Railways statement.
The move is being initiated as part of revamping the tatkal scheme amid increased complaints from passengers about touts making good...
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of the loopholes in the schemes and selling tatkal tickets at a premium.
Railways officials felt the development will not only help reduce pressure on counters booking both general and tatkal tickets at the same time, but will also reduce the waiting time of tatkal ticket seekers with the shrinking of the crowd.
The pressure on the e-ticketing site would also reduce considerably. At present, booking for both general and tatkal tickets open at 8 am, not only chocking e-ticketing sites but also triggering to long queues in reservation counters.
Officials said separate tatkal booking counters will also be opened soon and CCTV cameras installed to monitor the crowd to check irregularities.
Booking clerks will also be barred from carrying mobiles inside the counters, they said.
At present, tatkal scheme is available in around 2677 trains which translates to around 1.71 lakh berths. In 2011-12, earning from the scheme stood at Rs 847 crore.
The scheme has seen a several changes in the recent past including reducing the days for reserving tatkal tickets from five to one day and barring web-based agents from booking tickets during the first hours, but the indulgence of the touts has deprived passengers from deriving the benefit of the scheme, officials noted.

New Tatkal rules from today: Sales start at 10am
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: Amid increasing complaints about misuse of the Tatkal scheme, the railways has introduced a slew of measures that will come into effect from Tuesday.
Under the revised scheme, passengers can book Tatkal tickets from 10am instead of 8am.
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No authorized agents, including those of IRCTC, will be allowed to book Tatkal tickets from 10am to 12pm over the counter as well as on the internet.
While some zones will have separate counters for these tickets, others will issue Tatkal tickets from the same counters; they will provide only Tatkal tickets from 10am-10.30am, said a senior railway ministry official.
The revised scheme comes in the backdrop of an increasing number of complaints from passengers about cornering of the bulk of tickets by touts, who then sell them at a premium.
Measures such as installation of CCTVs in major booking centres, barring booking clerks from carrying cellphones inside counters, display of helpline numbers as well as raids by vigilance squads, have been taken, said the official.
The railways will also augment the e-ticket handling capacity of its website through shortterm and long-term measures.
The server capacity will be increased from 3.5 lakh bookings to about 5 lakh bookings per day in about four months, which will eventually be increased to about 8 lakh bookings a day.
The move comes after TOI ran a series of stories highlighting the difficulties faced by passengers in trying to book Tatkal tickets.
toireporter@timesgroup.com

New tatkal plan makes booking tickets easier
#1 Under the new scheme, passengers will be allowed to book tatkal tickets exclusively at reservation counters between 10 am to noon for the trains leaving next day.
#2 The railways also decided that no authorised agents, including those of the Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation, will be allowed to book Tatkal tickets in the first two hours -- from 10 a.m. to 12 noon
#3...
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There will be separate queues and counters for passengers buying tickets under the Tatkal scheme.
#4 CCTVs will also be installed at booking counters to monitor the 'Taktal' booking system.
#5 Passengers will have carry self-attested identity proofs to buy a Tatkal ticket.
#6 The Indian Railways has also said that only four passengers can be booked on a single ticket in the Tatkal scheme.
#7 Agents booking tickets on the internet under the 'Tatkal' scheme can now only book one ticket per train per day only after 12 noon.
#8 Passengers booking tickets on the internet under the 'Tatkal' scheme can now only book two tickets between 10 am and 12 noon.