IRCTC Master List: Save Passengers to Book Tatkal Faster

Every second counts in the Tatkal window. At 10:00 AM sharp for AC classes and 11:00 AM for sleeper, thousands of people are all fighting for the same handful of seats. The people who lose are almost never the ones with a slow internet connection. They are the ones still typing "R-A-J-E-S-H, age 34, male, lower berth" into the passenger form while the confirmed seats vanish.

There is a built-in IRCTC feature that removes that typing entirely: the Master List. Set it up once, and on booking day you just tick names off a list. Yet most travellers have never opened it.

Here is exactly how the Master List and Travel List work, what to save, and how to use them to shave 30–60 seconds off every booking.

What is the IRCTC Master List?

The Master List is a saved directory of passengers inside your IRCTC profile. You can pre-store up to 20 passengers — their name, age, gender, berth preference, meal choice, and ID details. On booking day, instead of typing everything, you select saved passengers with a single tap, and the form fills itself.

Think of it as your phone's contacts, but for train bookings. You enter each person once, and IRCTC remembers them forever. This matters most during Tatkal and the general opening rush, where the passenger-entry screen is the single biggest time sink between you and a confirmed berth.

It lives under My Account → My Profile → Master List (called "Add/Modify Master List" on the website, and "Master List" under the profile menu in the IRCTC Rail Connect app).

What is the difference between the Master List and the Travel List?

The Master List is your full roster of up to 20 people. The Travel List is a smaller, named group you build from the Master List — for example "Family" or "Office Trip" — so you can add several regular co-travellers to a booking in one action instead of picking them one by one.

Here is the simplest way to remember it:

Master List = the pool of everyone you might ever book for (up to 20 individuals).
Travel List = pre-made bundles of those people you travel with together often.

If you almost always book for the same four family members, put them in a Travel List. Then on booking day, choosing that one list drops all four passengers into the form at once. For a solo traveller or someone with an ever-changing group, the Master List alone is usually enough.

How do I create a Master List on IRCTC?

Log in, open My Account → My Profile → Master List, click Add Passenger, fill in the details once, and save. Repeat for each person up to the limit of 20. The whole setup takes a few quiet minutes on any normal day — do it well before you actually need to book.

Step by step on the website:

Log in to the IRCTC portal.
Hover over My Account and choose My Profile, then Master List.
Click Add Passenger.
Enter the passenger's name (exactly as on their ID), age, gender, berth preference, food preference, nationality, and — where required — ID card type and number.
Click Submit / Save. The passenger now appears in your list.

In the Rail Connect app, the path is Profile → Master List → Add Passenger, with the same fields.

Do this on a lazy Sunday, not on Tatkal morning. The entire advantage of the Master List disappears if you are still creating it at 9:59 AM. Set it up in advance so booking day is pure selection, not data entry.

What passenger details should I save in the Master List?

Save everything the booking form normally asks for, so nothing is left to type on the day: full name as printed on ID, age, gender, berth preference, and meal preference. For anyone booking under a concession or ID-linked quota, also store the ID card type and number.

The fields you can pre-save include:

Field	Why it matters
Name	Must match a valid photo ID exactly — a mismatch can mean a penalty during checking
Age & Gender	Drives senior-citizen fares and lower-berth auto-allocation
Berth preference	Lower / Middle / Upper / Side Lower, etc. — set your usual choice
Food preference	Veg / Non-veg / no food — only used on trains with catering like Rajdhani, Shatabdi, Vande Bharat
Nationality	Indian or foreign national
ID card type & number	Needed for senior-citizen and certain quota bookings

Getting the name spelling right here pays off twice: it saves typing, and it prevents the name mismatch problems that get flagged during ticket checking.

How does the Master List speed up Tatkal booking?

During Tatkal, the passenger-entry screen is where most people lose their seat. With a Master List, you skip that screen almost entirely: select your saved names, confirm, and move straight to payment — often 30 to 60 seconds faster than typing fresh, which is frequently the difference between a confirmed berth and a waitlist.

The Tatkal booking sequence, compared:

Without a Master List: train → class → type every passenger's name, age, gender, preference by hand → captcha → payment. The typing step is slow and error-prone under pressure.
With a Master List: train → class → tick saved passengers → captcha → payment. The slowest manual step is gone.

That saved time compounds with the other Tatkal fundamentals — logging in early, having your payment method ready (UPI or a saved card), and knowing the exact opening time for your class. Pair the Master List with the tactics in our Ultimate Tatkal Booking Guide for the full speed setup.

Once you have booked, track the result instantly with Smart Seats and our fast PNR Status search, and use the Coach Journey Lookup to see the live berth position along your route.

Can I edit or delete passengers from the Master List?

Yes. Open the Master List, find the passenger, and use Edit to update details or Delete to remove them. Because the list is capped at 20, prune people you no longer book for so you always have room to add new travellers before a big booking.

Keep the list current: update a child's age each year (it affects fares and berth eligibility), fix any spelling you later notice, and remove one-off co-passengers after the trip. A clean, accurate list is the one that actually saves you time when it matters.

Does the Master List work in the IRCTC Rail Connect app and on the website?

Yes — the Master List is tied to your IRCTC account, not to a single device, so it syncs across the website and the Rail Connect mobile app. Create it in either place and the saved passengers appear in both, ready to select whenever you book.

This account-level sync is genuinely useful on Tatkal morning: if the website is overloaded, you can switch to the app (or vice versa) and your saved passengers are already there. For more on choosing between the two under pressure, see our comparison of the IRCTC app versus website for Tatkal.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

How many passengers can I add to the IRCTC Master List?

You can save up to 20 passengers in your IRCTC Master List. This is separate from the per-ticket limit (a maximum of 6 passengers per booking, or 4 during Tatkal). If you hit 20, delete passengers you no longer book for to make room for new ones.

Is the Master List the same as booking history?

No. Booking history is a record of tickets you have already purchased. The Master List is a pre-saved directory of passenger details you set up in advance, specifically so you can fill the booking form instantly on future bookings without retyping anyone's information.

Do I still have to select a berth preference if it is saved in the Master List?

The berth preference you save is applied automatically when you add that passenger, but you can override it on any individual booking. Saved preferences are a default to save time, not a lock — change them per journey whenever you need to.

Can I use the Master List for Tatkal tickets?

Yes, and it is where the Master List helps most. Tatkal opens at 10:00 AM for AC classes and 11:00 AM for sleeper, and seats sell out in minutes. Selecting pre-saved passengers instead of typing them is one of the biggest time savings available in the Tatkal window.

Will the Master List auto-fill ID proof for senior citizens?

If you save the ID card type and number for a passenger, those details are stored and can be applied when you book under an ID-linked concession or quota. You still choose the relevant quota and concession option at booking time for that journey.

Does the Master List cost anything?

No. Creating and using the Master List and Travel List is a free, built-in feature of every IRCTC account. There is no charge to save passengers or to select them during booking.