In a significant move, Indian Railways will now issue the final passenger chart 24 hours before the scheduled departure of trains - an improvement from the previous practice of releasing it just four hours prior.
Top level sources in the railways said the initiative is currently being implemented as a pilot project, which began on June 6 under the Bikaner Division of the Western Railway Zone. The Railways is expected to make an official announcement soon in this regards after studying the feasibility.
“The new system aims to help passengers plan their journeys more effectively. For instance, travelers coming from locations 100 km or more away will have better clarity and time to reach the boarding station without last-minute uncertainty. This change is expected to enhance convenience and reduce travel-related stress for passengers. The said practice has been initiated to avoid confusion and unnecessary stress during their travel,” sources in the Indian railways told The Pioneer.
The move has been taken also to facilitate the passengers to board premium trains enroute, for instance if the New Delhi-Kolkatta Rajdhani which no stop between New Delhi and Kanpur and vice versa can be boarded by Aligarh or nearby passengers needing to travel in the train either from Delhi or Kanpur.
The initiative has also been kept in mind that passengers can re-plan their journey 24 hours in advance notice by the railways in case the tickets are waitlisted. “It is only two days of full working of the operations in Bikaner. In a weeks time a report shall be submitted to the Headquarters which shall be discussed at the Railway Ministry level. If feasible then the 24 hours chart notice will be rolled in some select Divisions to further asses the passengers as well the railways’ social and economic benefit,” explained a another rail official working on the model currently. However the system of current booking as per availability and rules and regulation shall remain unchanged. Similarly the railways aims to work on curbing the menace of ticketing touts as well as the Tatkal Rail Reservations System.
Railways has already made a change in the rules of Tatkal ticket booking. Now to book Tatkal tickets, confirmation of identity through e-Aadhaar i.e. electronic Aadhaar will be mandatory.
This will stop fraud and it will be easy for real passengers to get confirmed tickets and it will benefit needy and genuine passengers.
Those whose IRCTC booking account is linked with Aadhaar will get priority in the first 10 minutes of Tatkal ticket booking. Even authorized agents will not be able to book tickets in these 10 minutes. That is, if your identity is not verified from the government database, then you will not have access to the most valuable first 10 minutes for Tatkal tickets.
In the existing model of Railways’ Charting - is the process of allocating the vacant seats of other quota to General/Tatkal Quota. The first chart is usually prepared four hours before departure of train from originating station or remote location station. For early morning trains chart is prepared the night before.
If the seats remain vacant in first chart, the remaining seats are made available for booking and for which final chart is made 30min before departure of train which is carried by the Travel Train Examiners on board. In this practice some waiting list tickets are confirmed or remain under RAC category treated as confirmed for which no refund can be claimed until applied as per cancellations rules. While fully confirmed tickets cannot be cancelled after chart preparation, fully waiting list e-tickets are automatically cancelled.
