PINAKI MAJUMDAR
Jamshedpur, Oct 18: The Indian Railways has decided that with effect from November 1, the existing time limit for advance reservations by trains will be reduced from 120 days to 60 days (excluding the date of journey).
With effect from November 1, the Advance Reservation Period (ARP) will be of 60 days (excluding the day of journey) and bookings will be done accordingly.
Reservations till Oct 31 will remain intact
However, all the bookings done up to October 31 under the ARP of 120 days will remain intact.
Cancellations of the booking made beyond the ARP of 60 days will, however, be permitted.
There will be no change in the case of certain daytime express trains like Taj Express, Gomti Express, etc, where lower time limits for advance reservations are, at present, in force.
There will also be no change in the case of limit of 365 days for foreign tourists.
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Significantly, the railway advance reservation period has undergone changes from time to time.
The Advance Reservation Period has varied from 30 days to 120 days. Based on the experience of various periods, the 60-day Advance Reservation Period has been observed as the optimal period from passenger’s point of view.
High cancellations and fraud concerns lead to change
According to railway officials, 120 days was too long for planning, resulting in high cancellations and wastage of seats/ berths because of passengers not turning up for journeys.
Currently, there is about 21 % cancellations and 4-5 % passengers don’t turn up.
In many cases, it is seen that passengers do not cancel their tickets and do not turn up for journeys. And this leads to frauds – such as impersonation, railway officials taking money illegally etc. Now, this can be prevented.
With longer periods, there was a greater chance of some people blocking the tickets.
Shorter periods will encourage more tickets by genuine passengers.
There will be no impact on general class tickets as they are purchased just before the journey.
With better visibility of demand due to fewer cancellations, railways can plan more special trains well in advance.
