The Railways has reduced the advance booking time for train tickets from the existing 120 days to 60 days. After the implementation of the new system that was announced today, passengers would now be able to book train tickets only 60 days ahead of the train’s scheduled departure, in contrast to the current advance booking period of 120 days. The new rule of the Advanced Reservation Period (ARP) for train journeys, according to the Railways, is to come into effect from 1 November.

As informed by the Railways, even with the new rule in place, all the bookings done up to 31 October under ARP of 120 days are to remain unchanged. Also, cancellation of the earlier booking made beyond the ARP of 60 days would be permitted. Apart from this, there would be no change in the case of certain day time express trains like Taj Express, Gomti Express and so on where lower time limits for advance reservation are at present in force. Furthermore, the 365 days limit for foreign tourists in international trains like that of Bandhan Express and Maitree Express trains have also been kept unchanged. As elaborated by the Railways, the existing system of 120 days of ARP was too long for planning, resulting in high cancellations and wastage of seats or berths because of passengers not turning up for journeys. As informed by the Railways, currently, there is about 21 percent cancellation while four to five per cent passengers do not 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.” said the Railways in a statement. Also, with longer periods, there was a greater chance of some people blocking the tickets. Shorter periods will encourage more purchase of tickets by genuine passengers. There is no impact on general class tickets as they are purchased just before the journey. “With better visibility of demand due to lesser cancellations and no-show, railways can plan more special trains well in advance,” claimed the Railways today.