India · Festival travel
Rakhi 2027 is on Tuesday, 17 August 2027. Below is the exact day and time IRCTC booking opens for every date in the Rakhi rush — going and coming back — under the 60-day rule, with the Tatkal dates alongside.
Rakhi 2027
Tue 17 Aug
Busiest outbound day
Mon 16 Aug
General booking opens for that day
Thu 17 Jun · 08:00
Tatkal for that day
Sun 15 Aug · 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 14 August 2027 to 17 August 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 | 13 Aug | 13 Aug | — | |
| · 08:00 | 14 Aug | 14 Aug | — | |
| · 08:00 | 15 Aug | 15 Aug | — | |
| Raksha Bandhan | · 08:00 | 16 Aug | 16 Aug | — |
From 17 August 2027 to 20 August 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Raksha Bandhan | · 08:00 | 16 Aug | 16 Aug | — |
| · 08:00 | 17 Aug | 17 Aug | — | |
| · 08:00 | 18 Aug | 18 Aug | — | |
| · 08:00 | 19 Aug | 19 Aug | — |
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.
One day, but it is the one day people cross the country to be with a sibling. Short-haul trains across the north and west are the ones that vanish.
Delhi, Mumbai and Ahmedabad to Jaipur, Jodhpur, Indore, Bhopal, Lucknow and Kanpur — and the return the same evening or the next day.
Rakhi 2027 falls on Tuesday, 17 August 2027. Under the 60-day Advance Reservation Period, general booking for travel on that day opens on Friday, 18 June 2027 at 08:00 IST. For the busiest outbound day, 16 August 2027, booking opens on 17 June 2027. 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 16 August 2027, that is 15 August 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.