Last month, I tried booking a Tatkal ticket from Indore to Mumbai. If you’ve booked a Tatkal ticket on IRCTC, you know the routine: set an alarm, log in early, keep details ready, hover over “Book Now” at 9:59:58… and hope you’re faster than a few lakh other passengers, travel agents, and automated booking tools. As a QA engineer, I could not help thinking — this isn’t a train booking, it’s a digital stampede.»»

Tatkal’s Purpose vs. Today’s Reality

Tatkal was introduced to help passengers who have urgent or last-minute travel needs.
In spirit, it’s a lifeline for emergencies: sudden work trips, family events, or medical needs.


tatkal-ticketing-system


But in practice, it works on a first-come, first-served basis at a fixed time:

  • AC Tatkal opens at 10:00 AM, Sleeper Tatkal at 11:00 AM, exactly one day before the journey.
  • Only a small quota (~10–30% of seats per class) is released.
  • All booking channels — website, app, agents, and station counters — hit the same pool simultaneously.

The result? Whoever is fastest — with the best internet speed, lowest latency, automated tools, and perfect timing — gets the advantage, not necessarily the person with the most urgent need.

The Problems with the Current “Fastest Finger First” Model

Urgency cannot be compared. A tech-savvy person’s emergency is no more important than that of someone less comfortable with technology.
Yet today’s system rewards speed over genuine need.

Major issues:

  • Wasted Time – Lakhs of people spend around 20 minutes trying to book Tatkal daily. That’s millions of man-hours wasted every year.
  • Server Overload – Thousands of concurrent logins cause lags, session drops, and failed payments.
  • Speed Bias – People with high-speed internet and autofill tools get an unfair advantage.
  • Passenger Stress – A few seconds’ delay in CAPTCHA or payment means losing the ticket.
  • Opaque Seat Vanishing – Tickets disappear in seconds, raising doubts about fairness.

For urgent travel, this system often creates more stress than support.

A Better Way: The Lottery-Based Tatkal Booking

Instead of rewarding the fastest click, Tatkal could work more like a fair draw.

How It Could Work

  1. Application Window – Passengers can apply for Tatkal tickets anytime within 48 hours before departure (cut-off 24 hours before train leaves).
    The booking form would allow:
    • Payment in advance
    • Priority berth preferences
    • Option to book only if confirmed berth is allotted
    • Option to book only if all passengers in a booking get a seat
  2. Randomized Allotment – When the window closes, the system will consider every booking as one data-set and randomly pick data set and assign available Tatkal seats, starting from confirmed tickets, then moving to the waiting list.
  3. Confirmation & Payment Window – Selected passengers get a fixed short window (e.g., 15 minutes) to confirm if payment wasn’t made in advance.

Advantages

  • Fairness – Equal chance for all, regardless of internet speed, since all urgency is treated equally.
  • Lower Server Spikes – Demand spread over hours, not concentrated in a few seconds.
  • Reduced Agent Dominance – Bots and scripts can’t click faster to win.
  • Less Stress – Passengers can apply calmly without racing the clock.

What IRCTC Gains

  • Improved System Stability – Lower risk of peak-time crashes.
  • Better Public Trust – Transparency in how seats are allocated.
  • Future-Proofing – Scales better as demand grows.

Potential Concerns & Fixes

  • “I need instant confirmation” → Announce results at a fixed time (e.g., 3:00 PM) so passengers know exactly when to check.
  • Fear of manipulation → Use auditable, transparent randomization algorithms for seat allocation.

Conclusion

Tatkal was meant for urgency — but the current first-come, first-served race favors speed over need.
A lottery-based booking could restore fairness, reduce chaos, and make the process work as originally intended: helping those who genuinely need to travel on short notice.

Because at the end of the day, your chance to attend a family function or reach a hospital shouldn’t depend on whether you can click “Pay” a fraction of a second faster.