Come November 1 and you will be able to buy railway tickets 60 days in advance compared to the current practice of booking them 120 days before the date of journey, reports have said. Reports indicate Indian Railways have announced this significant shift in booking tickets.
However, media reports also indicated that those who have already booked tickets beyond the 60-day window will not be affected. Therefore, it is clear that the rule will be implemented prospectively and nor retrospectively.
Why the new IRCTC ticketing decision?
Reports also said that a number of factors were instrumental in effecting the new IRCTC advance ticketing reservation decision. One was to prevent touts from exploiting the long reservation window to make unfair gains. Another motive was to enable people to plan for accurate itineraries, quick and spontaneous travel plans, reduction of cancellation of tickets and not turning up on the date of journey and for smoother passenger flow. Every year, as many as 35 crore people – more than the entire population of the US – travel by Indian Railways.
Recent waiting list ticket rules, penalty
Significantly, Indian Railways have already decided to slap penalty on passengers, who despite being on waitlists, board reserved coaches. This is a regular practice in long-distance trains. In order to curb this unfair practice that puts proper ticket holders in great discomfort, the railways have decided that each such passenger will have to pay Rs 440 as fine. Not only that the travelling ticket examiner – commonly referred to as the TTE – can compel the passenger concerned to deboard at the next station.
Tatkal ticket booking
The tatkal ticket booking rules, on the other hand, tells that tatkal charges are determined as a percentage of the fare at the rate of 10% of basic fare for class II and 30% of the basic fare for all other classes subject to a prescribed minimum and maximum.
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