[sadhuji]

The latest brainwave of the railways to improve their collections is to release 50% of Tatkal seats to Wait-listed passengers. Tatkal (or Emergency) seats were introduced in the mid nineties to facilitate long distance passengers who have to undertake journeys at the last minute, to avail of reservations and travel in reasonable comfort. At its inception, these were restricted to certain trains, were released from only the originating station and were available 24 hours before commencement of the journey. There used to be a single 2nd class coach earmarked as the Tatkal coach – it would be positioned right at the end and would be isolated. Normally, all sleeper coaches are interconnected by ramps – not the Tatkal coach. Moreover, there used to be an extra charge levied.

However, over a period of time, there were modifications. It seems now the Tatkal reservations can be made five days in advance and that there is no separate coach but quotas in all the coaches and in all classes. The latest buzz is that since there was less number of takers for this quota, 50% of these would be released to wait-listed passengers on payment of the Tatkal charges. The relevant computer programs for railway reservations are being rewritten to incorporate the modifications and implementation would follow.