Indian Railways bring down advance reservation period to 60 days

In a major relief to long distance trains passengers, the Indian Railways have reduced the advance reservation period (ARP) from 120 days to 60 days. Effective from November 1, the move will prevent the blocking of money in rail tickets four months in advance, especially during the holiday seasons

MUMBAI: In a major relief to long distance trains passengers, the Indian Railways have reduced the advance reservation period (ARP) from 120 days to 60 days. Effective from November 1, the move will prevent the blocking of money in rail tickets four months in advance, especially during festival and holiday seasons.

Indian Railways bring down advance reservation period to 60 days

On October 16, the Railway Board issued the order to bring down the time limit for advance booking. The circular was issued to the principal chief commercial manager of all zonal railways.

Since April 1981, this will be the 13th time the Indian Railways will be making changes in the time frame for booking ARP in long distance trains. The circular also stated that cancellations made beyond the ARP of 60 days will be permitted.

Officials said the circular is aimed at reducing the administrative load linked to high cancellations, wastage of seats/berths because of no-show from passengers and checking alleged wrongdoings by travel agents. “This decision will help the public in preventing the blocking of money in train ticket bookings four months in advance. There will be no change in the limit of 365 days for foreign tourists,” said a railway official.

Another official said there is about 21% cancellation and 4-5% passengers do not turn-up. “In many cases, passengers neither cancel their tickets nor turn up for journeys. This leads to fraud such as impersonation, railway officials taking money illegally, etc. Now, this can be prevented. Shorter periods will encourage more tickets by genuine passengers,” he explained.

The new time limit would not be applicable to a few express trains, including Taj Express and Gomti Express, which have a shorter time limit for advance reservation. Sources in the railways said that on an average, 85% of bookings happen less than two months in advance while the remaining happen four months in advance.

“Often passengers make multiple ticket bookings which lead to unwanted shortage in supply. Reducing the duration of ARP will thus save money,” said the official.

The latest move will have no impact on general class tickets as these are purchased just before the journey.