Indian Railways has changed the train tickets reservation rules under ‘tatkaal scheme’, to meet the urgent requirement of the passengers who plan their journey at short notice.

According to the new rules for booking train tickets under ‘Tatkaal Scheme ‘, announced by the Indian Union Railway Minister Mr. Dinesh Trivedi on 11^th November 2011, train tatkaal ticketscan be booked 24 hours before the date of journey , instead of the present 3 days in advance.

And to stop black marketing in the sale of train tickets, booking ‘Tatkaal’ Train tickets between 08/ 00 am and 10/00 am will be barred.

And to stop misuse of ‘tatkaal scheme’ of traintickets reservations, CCTV cameras will be installed in front of the ‘ tatkal counters’.

The new tatkaal rules will come into force within a week’s time.

And also no duplicate ticket will be issued if and when the tatkal ticket is lost.

To avoid proxy booking, no money would be refunded in case a passenger cancels a confirmed ‘tatkal ticket’.

As and when the time for ‘tatkaal train tickets bookings’ was 5 days in advance of the date of travel,

The passengers booking ‘tatkaal’tickets used to get tickets for their urgent requirements while planning their journey at short notice.

However, when the time limit for ‘tatkaal bookings’ was reduced from 5 to 3 days, it has been more difficult for passengers booking tickets at the railways reservation counters and online.

With the further reduction in the time limit and the 8 am to 10 am barring the benefits of tatkaal train tickets will become much more difficult.

It is next to impossible to stop black marketing and misuse of train tickets, by reducing the number of days for booking ‘tatkaal’ tickets.

However, the Indian Railways will not realize the real difficulties of the passengers, and they may even scrap the ’tatkaal’ scheme.

So, the Train passengers should restrict their last minute planning for travel by train and practice travel by buses.

And persons who can afford may travel by flight instead of ‘tatkaal train’.