Its quite common that any user keeps the eye on the computer time when he books tatkal tickets, just imagine, what if your system's time is 1 minute late ? your system would show 8:59AM and it would be 9:AM on IRCTC and the tatkal bookings would have been started.

So, Synchronize your computer time to the IRCTC timing.

2. Use Station codes  [Very Important]


This is a very important tip which can definitely save your lot of time. Generally what people do is, Suppose they want to book a ticket from Bangalore, they type 'Bang' and wait for the pop down menu which will display the list of matched stations, out of which you can select one.

This wastes a lot of time and that definitely will lose your chances to book an tatkal ticket.

Best Method :

Indian Railway has alloted station codes to each and every station.
For example :
SBC is for Bangalore
ADI is for Ahmedabad

You just type the station code in the Station name, select date, class and press Search. No need to wait for that pop down list, at all !
You can search for the Station codes here

You can create a master list of all passengers who are likely to travel on the tickets booked by you, so that while booking tickets you can easily input data from this list.

Whenever you are booking a tatkal ticket, no need to type their name, age and other details, as you can select that directly from the list which would definitely save your precious time

Its always an good idea to type all the information as 'Name' and 'ID' number into a notepad, so that you can directly copy paste into the irctc booking window and save your time, while booking the ticket.

Even the payment options as Card number, Name of the card holder etc can be typed temporarily into notepad, so that you can copy paste that and the booking can be done faster.

[Note : Don't keep the credit/debit card details saved on pc, it may be harmful]