Tatkal Tickets Helped Railways Earn Rs 25,000 Crore

New Delhi: Last-minute travellers have helped Indian Railways earn a whopping Rs 25,392 crore in the last four years, an RTI reply has revealed.

Railways earned Rs 21,530 crore from Tatkal quota tickets and an additional Rs 3,862 crore from Tatkal premium tickets between 2016 and 2019, with a massive 62 per cent increase in revenue from the latter during this period, NDTV reported.

Tatkal booking was introduced in 1997 in select trains with an objective of providing accommodation for last-minute travellers and was extended across the country in 2004.

Tatkal ticket charges have been fixed at the rate of 10 per cent of basic fare for second class and 30 per cent of basic fare for all other classes. Under the premium version, which was introduced in 2014 in select trains, 50 per cent of Tatkal quota tickets are sold as per the dynamic fare system.