• Source:JND
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The new ticketing regulations announced by the Indian Railways went into effect on Friday, November 1. The ticket reservation duration has been reduced from 120 days to 60 days. Passengers would be able to reserve their tickets 60 days in advance.

In a post on X, the Southern Railway informed passengers of the reduced reservation terms. The railways stated that the new restrictions will have no impact on general-class ticket purchases. Passengers who have already bought their tickets won't be affected.

For international visitors, the 365-day prior reservation policy is still in effect.

It is anticipated that the new measure for domestic passengers would lower the incidence of ticket cancellations and no-shows, in which travellers fail to depart even when they have a valid ticket.

The action, according to Railways, will stop agents and other non-travellers from stockpiling tickets in large quantities. Additionally, it will assist the government in better planning trains and predicting demand.

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"It was being noticed that about 21 per cent of reservations done for 61-to-120-day periods were getting cancelled. Further, 5 per cent of passengers were neither cancelling their tickets nor were they undertaking the journey. This No-Show trend was also one of the factors behind the decision, which will help Indian Railways in better planning of special trains during peak seasons," the Press Information Bureau (PIB) said in a release.

In 2015, a 120-day window for ticket reservations was established. Till 1998, it was as low as 30 days.

Meanwhile, to handle the surge of passengers over the festive season, the Indian Railway is operating additional special trains. For those who travel for Chhath Pooja, special preparations are being made, according to Dilip Kumar, Executive Director of Information and Publicity for the Railway Board.