If you are in India, and if you feel like all prices are rapidly going up especially that of the private buses, that is most sought after for travelling to your native, you should definitely be rebuking the IRCTC website. Even-though the website is modified not to show some links on the tatkal hours, it is a low performing site that drinks all your juices and makes your entire day dull.
You have to spend minimum of an hour, login to the website before 15 minutes, go to a lonely place, assure no one else uses your network to login to IRCTC, check if the internet correction is good, be mentally prepared even if you do not get the ticket, have in mind alternative sources for travel and sacrifice your life for sometime, for getting a ticket!
But, how can you book a ticket faster and get a confirm ticket? I bet that there is no proven method! But there are a lot of tips that might get you closer, lets discuss them in detail!
Tips to get a Tatkal railway ticket in IRCTC
> Make sure you have auto-fill in browser enabled
> I also found my mobile/tablet powered with 3G internet faster than broadband. Try booking with 3G once
> If possible, well before the booking hours, go on a trial – enter the travel details and passenger details too with auto-fill on. This can help you when you book for tatkal
> You can also try Magic Autofill and saving the passenger details in lists
> Instead having all details like passenger name, their id number, etc save in notepad for easy copy-paste
> Sync your system clock with IRCTC clock. This might help you in knowing the correct booking hours
> Try to login to the website 10 minutes prior
> If you get Service unavailable error. Keep refreshing the page (don’t loose hope after-all!)
> Don’t be in a hurry. Wait till the page loads completely. (this is the master trick of all to get successful results)
> Have the station code handy, instead of typing the entire station name
> Ensure that you have the captcha entered correctly
> Have your debit/credit card numbers handy too
> Incase if you book by net-banking, find if your bank is giving the option to skip OTP for IRCTC transactions alone
> Wait for the payment page to load and redirect back to IRCTC. (Usually this is the stage that takes more time). Do not refresh or close the window
> Also, have your session active in another browser. So if you loose one(Session expired), you can use another
Lastly, stay light be prepared to face errors, waiting list tickets and ticket booking failures!
