Indian Railways introduced new rules for booking advance train tickets to improve flexibility, reduce misuse, and make the system more passenger-friendly. Here’s a breakdown of the changes and their implications:
1. **Advance Reservation Period (ARP)**
- **Earlier Rule**: Passengers could book train tickets up to 120 days in advance.
- **New Rule**: The ARP has been reduced to **60 days**. This means passengers can book their tickets up to 60 days before the journey date, excluding the date of travel.
- **Implication**: The shorter booking period aims to curb ticket hoarding and reduce misuse by touts who used to bulk-book tickets well in advance and resell them. This change ensures more availability for genuine passengers closer to the travel date.
2. **Tatkal Ticket Booking Changes**
- **Tatkal Scheme**: For those needing urgent travel, the Tatkal scheme continues to allow booking closer to the travel date but with some modifications.
- **Booking Timings**:
- **AC Classes**: Tatkal booking opens at **10 AM**, one day before the travel date.
- **Non-AC Classes**: Opens at **11 AM**, one day before the journey.
- **Refunds**: The Tatkal ticket cancellation policy remains stringent, with no refund available except in specific cases like train cancellations, delays exceeding 3 hours, or route diversions.
3. **Premium Tatkal Scheme**
- Indian Railways continues to offer the **Premium Tatkal** scheme, where dynamic pricing is applied based on demand. The new rules don't directly change this scheme, but the introduction of the shorter ARP indirectly affects its availability and pricing trends.
4. **Group Booking Rules**
- For group bookings (more than six passengers), passengers now need to **submit relevant identification documents** for each member. This measure aims to prevent the misuse of bulk booking for illegal resale.
#5. **Booking Time and Quota Allocation**
- **Online Bookings**: Passengers can book tickets through the official IRCTC website or app, with the new ARP rules in place.
- **Tatkal Quota**: Approximately **30% of total tickets are reserved under Tatkal**, providing last-minute options for passengers.
- **Women and Senior Citizens**: The booking quotas for senior citizens and women remain unaffected, allowing them to continue availing concessions and reserved seats as per the existing rules.
6. **Ticket Refund Policy**
- **Confirmed Tickets**: Refunds for confirmed tickets continue to incur cancellation charges, which vary depending on the class of travel and the time before the journey.
- **Waitlisted Tickets**: Passengers will receive a full refund if their waitlisted tickets do not get confirmed after the final chart preparation.
#7. **E-Ticket and UTS Mobile App Integration**
- Indian Railways continues to encourage digital bookings via the **IRCTC website**, **IRCTC app**, and the **UTS (Unreserved Ticketing System) mobile app**. These platforms support both reserved and unreserved ticket bookings, with UTS being used for short-distance travel.
- The new rules emphasize reducing offline ticket counter queues by promoting digital ticketing.
##8. **Security and Verification Measures**
- To prevent fraudulent bookings, additional **verification steps** are being implemented, including **OTP-based login** for online bookings and **Aadhaar-based verification** for bulk reservations.
The new rules aim to simplify the booking process, making travel more accessible and convenient for passengers, while discouraging illegal practices like ticket hoarding and touting.
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