Indian Railway: Indian Railways has become the fourth largest railway network in the world. Lakhs of passengers travel in the railways every day, hence before buying a general ticket during the journey, one should be aware of the new rules of the railways.
New Delhi: Train is the most preferred mode of transport in India. The Indian Railways network is the fourth largest rail network in the world. Almost every major city of the country is connected by rail service.
Keeping in mind the needs and convenience of the passengers, Railways provides tickets of different categories. First AC, Second AC, Third AC, Sleeper and General class tickets are available in the train.
General ticket price is lowest. Most railway passengers are not aware of how many hours a general ticket is valid. Due to lack of knowledge of the rules, many passengers fall into trouble and have to pay fines even after passing the ticket.
If you think that after buying a general ticket, you can board the train any time of the day, then you are wrong. Railways has fixed the time limit for catching the train after purchasing the ticket.
According to railway ticketing rules, if a passenger has to travel up to 199 kilometers, the passenger has to board the train within 3 hours of purchasing a general ticket. However, for distances of 200 kilometers or more, general tickets can be purchased 3 days in advance.
If a passenger buys a ticket for a journey of less than 199 kilometres, he will have to start the journey before the departure of the first train going to his destination station or within 3 hours of purchasing the ticket.
Will be considered ticketless
Railways had fixed the deadline for general tickets in the year 2016. Now, if a passenger is found traveling in a train after three hours on a ticket purchased for a journey up to 199 kilometres, then he will be considered as ticketless and fine will be charged as per rules.
Had to set a deadline to stop the trickery?
Before the year 2016, there was no fixed time limit for travel on general tickets. Some people were taking advantage of this. At some big stations of the country, organized gangs used to take general tickets from passengers who had completed their journey and sell them back to the passengers at a lower price.
Due to this the Railways was suffering financial loss. To stop this, Railways has set a time limit for traveling on general tickets.
