Railways To Allow Ticket Bookings And Cancellation Till 5 Minutes Before Departure From Today

Indian Railways from today (10 October 2020) has changed its reservation rules for ticket bookings and cancellation; ticket booking and cancellation will allow till 5 minutes before the departure.

This new rule of reservation and cancellation will apply to all special trains being run, comes into effect from October 10.

This comes as the Indian Railways has decided to restore the pre-COVID reservation system of preparing the second chart half an hour before the time of departure.

The pre-COVID reservation system was not followed for the last few months due to the coronavirus pandemic, the time of preparation of the second reservation chart was shifted to two hours before the scheduled time of train departure.

The first chart is prepared at least four hours before the scheduled departure of the train.

New Policy For Railway Ticket Booking And Cancellation

• Just like before the COVID situation, the first reservation chart will be prepared 4 hours before the departure of the train while the 2nd reservation chart is going to be prepared between half-hour to five minutes before the departure of the train.

• This means until the second reservation chart is ready, passengers can book train tickets. Tickets can even be cancelled during this point of time, as per the provisions of the refund rules.

• If a seat, which was booked in the first chart of reservation, becomes vacant because of cancellation, will be booked through PRS counters and online till the second chart is ready.

“As per the request of Zonal Railways for ensuring convenience of rail passengers, the matter has been examined and it has been decided that the second reservation chart shall be prepared at least 30 minutes before scheduled/rescheduled time of departure of the train,” a press release issued by the Indian Railways said.

“Accordingly, the ticket booking facility, both online and on PRS ticket counters, shall be available, before preparation of the second chart. CRIS will make necessary modifications in the software accordingly so as to restore this provision with effect from October 10,” it added.

All passenger trains services were suspended because of the imposition of the nationwide lockdown from March 25, but the railways have resumed services in a staggered manner from May 1.

Recently, zones got approval for 39 new special trains. “These services are going to be introduced as special services from an early convenient date,” said the Ministry of Railways.

This announcement comes a week after railway board chairman Vinod Kumar Yadav said that Indian Railways plans to run over 200 trains during the festive season between October 15 and November 30.

Also Read: IRCTC To Restart Tejas Express Trains From 17 October