Indian Railway Rules: Railways has reduced the advance reservation period (ARP) of seats from the current 120 days to 60 days. The new system will come into effect from November 1, 2024. The Railway Board issued a circular on October 16 giving this information. The good news is that if you have booked a ticket under the advance booking period of 120 days till October 31, then your booking will remain as it is.
Indian Railway Rules: Taking a big decision, the Railway Board has reduced the advance booking period of train tickets. From November 1, 2024, you will be able to book tickets only 60 days before your train journey. Till now this period was 120 days. The Railway Board made this announcement by issuing a circular on October 16, 2024. According to the circular, all bookings made till October 31 under the 120-day Advance Reservation Period i.e. ARP will remain unchanged. What will be the benefits of the latest move of the Railways and what has been the history of Advance Reservation Period i.e. ARP? Let us know here.
Benefits of 60 days reservation period instead of 120
1. 120 days too much: Railways felt that 120 days were too much to plan the journey. Due to this, there were more cancellations and wastage of seats / berths when passengers did not travel.
2. 21% cancellations: Currently, there is around 21% cancellations. 4-5% passengers do not turn up (no-shows).
3. No-show issues: In many cases it is seen that passengers do not cancel their tickets and do not turn up for the journey. This leads to frauds – such as impersonation, illegal money taking on the part of railway staff, etc. Now, this can be prevented.
4. Ticket blocking issue: With a longer period, there was a higher chance of some people blocking tickets. A shorter period will encourage more tickets of genuine passengers.
5. Impact on general tickets: There is no impact on general class tickets as they are bought just before the journey.
6. Planning of special trains: Considering the higher demand due to fewer cancellations and no-shows, railways may plan more special trains in advance.
What has been the history of reservation period?
The advance reservation period of railways has been changing from time to time. The advance reservation period ranges from 30 days to 120 days. Based on the experience of different periods, the advance reservation period of 60 days has been seen as the best period from the passenger point of view.
| Duration | Advance Reservation (in days) |
|---|---|
| April, 1981 – January, 1985 | 90 |
| 1.09.1988 – 30.09.1993 | 45 |
| 1.09.1995 – 31.01.1998 | 60 |
| 1.03.2007 – 14.07.2007 | 60 |
| 1.02.2008 – 9.03.2012 | 120 |
| 1.05.2013 – 31.03.2015 | 120 |
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