No Tatkal quota and dynamic pricing in Vande Bharat Sleeper

According to reports from DeshGujarat, News18, Aaj Tak, Sandesh (Desh) and NDTV India, the Tatkal booking facility has been cancelled by Indian Railways for Vande Bharat Sleeper Express trains. Passengers will be able to reserve berths in these trains only during the Advance Reservation Period.

All berths in Vande Bharat Sleeper Express trains have been made available under the general reservation quota so that passengers can be encouraged to plan their journey in advance. Dr. Shivam Sharma, Chief Public Relations Officer of North Central Railway, has stated that the absence of Tatkal quota in Vande Bharat Sleeper trains is so that more and more passengers can plan their travel in advance.

Dynamic or flexi-fare pricing is not used in Vande Bharat Sleeper Express trains. Only passengers with confirmed tickets are permitted to travel in these trains. Passengers holding Reservation Against Cancellation (RAC), waitlisted or partially confirmed tickets are not allowed to board Vande Bharat Sleeper trains.

According to the rules for cancellation of Vande Bharat Sleeper tickets, refunds are issued on the cancellation of confirmed tickets with deductions based on time. If a ticket is cancelled more than 72 hours before the scheduled departure of the journey, a 25 percent fare deduction applies. A 50 percent deduction applies upon cancelling a ticket between 72 hours and 8 hours before departure. While no refund is given on tickets cancelled within 8 hours of departure.

According to the rules for eligible passengers in Vande Bharat Sleeper trains, reservation quotas apply for women, senior citizens and divyang passengers. Six AC three-tier berths have been reserved for women in these trains and 21 berths have been allocated under the railway staff duty pass quota.

At present, three pairs of Vande Bharat Sleeper Express trains are operational across the country. These Vande Bharat Sleeper services provide connectivity between Howrah and Kamakhya, New Delhi and Varanasi, as well as Mumbai's CSMT and Bengaluru's SMVT.

Talking about the technical features and background of the Vande Bharat Sleeper train, these trains were developed by BEML using the technology of Chennai-based Integral Coach Factory. The design of the Vande Bharat Sleeper train is prepared for a maximum speed of 180 km/h. Each Vande Bharat Sleeper train has 16 coaches, which include 11 AC three-tier coaches, four AC two-tier coaches and one first AC coach. The total passenger capacity of the Vande Bharat Sleeper train is 823, which can accommodate 611 passengers in AC three-tier, 188 in AC two-tier and 24 in first AC.