Indian Railways has changed the advance ticket booking rules. Earlier ticket booking started 120 days before travel, now it has been reduced to 60 days. The new rule will come into effect from 1 November 2024. TOI has given this information in its report. However, the new rules for advance train ticket booking will not affect already booked tickets. Currently, ticket booking is done through IRCTC website, app and railway booking counters. 12.38 lakh tickets are booked daily by IRCTC.
Ticket booking period has been changed from 90 to 60 days
Indian Railways has reduced the ticket booking time. Now the ticket booking period has been fixed at 60 days. The implementation of this rule will come into effect from 1st November-2024. These 60 days also include travel days.
The new rule will not apply to tickets booked till October 31
According to Railv, this new rule will not apply to tickets booked up to 31-October-2024, but cancellation of ticket bookings made above the 60-day advance reservation period will be allowed.
Relief to foreign tourists
According to information provided by Indian Railways, there will be no change in the rules in case of certain day express trains – such as Taj Express, Gomti Express etc. – where a shorter time limit for advance reservation is currently applicable. Apart from this, there will be no change in the 365 days limit for foreign tourists.
Railways extended the advance reservation period in 2015
As of April 1, 2015, the advance reservation period was 60 days. The government then argued that extending the booking period to 120 days would discourage brokers as they would have to pay higher cancellation charges.
However, many argued at the time that the Railways' purpose in extending the reservation period was to earn additional revenue through higher number of cancellations along with interest for 60 days.
Interest and cancellations will reduce IRCTC's earnings
A reduction in the advance reservation period will reduce IRCTC's interest and cancellation earnings. Its impact is also being seen on its stock. Shares of the company fell nearly 2% to Rs. 875 are being traded. The stock is down 6% in a month.
There is also a plan to eliminate the waiting list of railways
- IRCTC has recently made several changes, including plans to eliminate the long-standing problem of waiting lists in trains over the next five to six years to ensure that every passenger gets a confirmed berth.
- There are also plans to launch the Railway Super App, which will have services ranging from passenger ticket booking to travel planning. Revel also plans to install AI enabled cameras. Along with this, besides monitoring the quality of food, the occupancy of trains will also be optimised.
IRCTC joined Indian Railways in 1999
Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) is a 'Mini Ratna (Category-1)' Central Public Sector Enterprise under the Ministry of Railways, Government of India. IRCTC was incorporated as a branch of Indian Railways on 27 September 1999.
Its objective is to manage catering and hospitality at stations, trains and other places. It also aims to promote domestic and international tourism through development of budget hotels, special tour packages, information and commercial promotion and global reservation system. The corporate office of IRCTC is located in New Delhi.
Major Activities of IRCTC
IRCTC shares have fallen over 12% in 6 months
IRCTC stock is down 2.34% at 03:05 PM today (Thursday, October 17) at Rs. is trading at 871.70. The company's stock is down 6.58% in the past one month, 12.21% in the six months and 2.26% this year (since January 1). At the same time, IRCTC shares have gained 22.03% in the last one year. The market cap of the company is around 70 thousand crore rupees.
Image Credit: (Divya-Bhaskar): Images/graphics belong to (Divya-Bhaskar).
