India · Festival travel
Pongal 2027 is on Friday, 15 January 2027. Below is the exact day and time IRCTC booking opens for every date in the Pongal rush — going and coming back — under the 60-day rule, with the Tatkal dates alongside.
Pongal 2027
Fri 15 Jan
Busiest outbound day
Wed 13 Jan
General booking opens for that day
Sat 14 Nov · 08:00
Tatkal for that day
Tue 12 Jan · 10:00 / 11:00
All times IST. General booking is 60 days ahead excluding the journey day; Tatkal is one day ahead. Set by the lunar calendar; a regional panchang can differ by a day.
From 11 January 2027 to 15 January 2027. The named days are the festival itself; the days before them are when most people travel.
| Journey date | General booking opens | Tatkal AC · 10:00 | Tatkal SL · 11:00 | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| · 08:00 | 10 Jan | 10 Jan | — | |
| · 08:00 | 11 Jan | 11 Jan | — | |
| · 08:00 | 12 Jan | 12 Jan | — | |
| Bhogi / Lohri | · 08:00 | 13 Jan | 13 Jan | — |
| Thai Pongal / Makar Sankranti | · 08:00 | 14 Jan | 14 Jan | — |
From 17 January 2027 to 20 January 2027. Return tickets open later than outbound ones, and are the ones people forget to book on the day.
| Journey date | General booking opens | Tatkal AC · 10:00 | Tatkal SL · 11:00 | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kaanum Pongal | · 08:00 | 16 Jan | 16 Jan | — |
| · 08:00 | 17 Jan | 17 Jan | — | |
| · 08:00 | 18 Jan | 18 Jan | — | |
| · 08:00 | 19 Jan | 19 Jan | — |
Festival demand cuts cancellations sharply, so waitlists move less than usual. Check the honest odds for your GNWL, RLWL or PQWL number before you decide whether to gamble on Tatkal.
The harvest festival that sends Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad home to the districts. Tamil Nadu declares special trains every year and they still fill.
Chennai to Madurai, Tiruchirappalli, Tirunelveli, Nagercoil and Coimbatore; Bengaluru to the same, and Hyderabad to Vijayawada, Rajahmundry and Visakhapatnam for Sankranti.
Pongal 2027 falls on Friday, 15 January 2027. Under the 60-day Advance Reservation Period, general booking for travel on that day opens on Monday, 16 November 2026 at 08:00 IST. For the busiest outbound day, 13 January 2027, booking opens on 14 November 2026. Each journey date opens on its own day, 60 days ahead, so the tables above list every date in the rush.
General-quota reservation opens at 08:00 IST on the day the 60-day window reaches your journey date. Tatkal is separate: it opens at 10:00 IST for AC classes and 11:00 IST for Sleeper and other non-AC classes, one day before the journey. Only Aadhaar-authenticated IRCTC accounts can book Tatkal online.
Tatkal opens one day before each journey date. For travel on 13 January 2027, that is 12 January 2027 — 10:00 IST for AC classes and 11:00 IST for Sleeper. The Tatkal quota is small and festival demand is extreme, so treat it as a backup to a general booking made on the day the window opened, not as the plan.
Book immediately even if the train shows a waitlist — a low GNWL number booked early still confirms on most trains, and the queue only gets longer. Then check the confirmation odds for your waitlist code, and note the Tatkal date for the same journey as a fallback one day before travel.
Not always. Festival specials are notified separately, often only a few weeks before they run, and their booking opens when the notification says, which can be shorter than 60 days. The dates on this page are for regular trains. Check the IRCTC and zonal railway announcements for specials on your route once the festival is a few weeks away.
Set by the lunar calendar; a regional panchang can differ by a day. The dates here were checked against Drik Panchang and the mainstream Indian calendars. If your family follows a regional calendar that puts the festival a day earlier or later, use the tables to read off the booking date for that day instead.
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Last reviewed
September 15, 2026
Content update
Auto-updated on Jun 28, 2026
Scope: Festival dates are taken from the published panchang and can differ by a day between regional calendars. Booking dates follow the 60-day Advance Reservation Period for regular trains; festival special trains are notified separately with their own windows.