Now, rail reservations 90 days in advance

Railways to earn more, passengers to suffer further

To boost the profits of railways, the ministry of railways is finding new ways that will benefit railways rather than passengers. Recently, the railway board has increased the reservation booking to 90 days instead of 60 days.

This development is only because the cancellation of tickets earn the railways currently Rs 60 lakh per day. This will increase the income from cancellation of tickets to Rs 1 crore per day. Every day more than 2.5 lakh of tickets are sold, the railway will earns over 40 per cent more on the cancellation of tickets. More than 16 per cent of tickets are cancelled which are booked in advance.

Speaking to Employment & NRI Times, chief public relations officer, Central Railways, Shriniwas Mudgerikar said this is done on a trial basis and it will come into effect from March 1, 2007 for three month and the feedback from the passengers will be taken.

However, there will be no change in reservations in the case of certain day time express trains like Taj Express, Gomti Express, etc. There will be no change in the case of the limit of 360 days for foreign tourists, he adds.

“There was pressure from the tourism fraternity as they planned their vacation well in advance. We have to boost tourism sector also”, said Harish Kunwar information officer for Indian Railways. He also retreated that this is just on an experimental basis for three months, as railways will review it after the trail period is over.

“It will benefit to railways more than passengers, railways must give some incentives to the passengers as given by the airlines”, said Bhavin Toprani, marketing head, Indiatravelite.com.

Passengers book their tickets well in advance to get confirmed tickets, especially on the north, eastern and central India routes. The government should have gone for awareness program before implementing the 90 days schedule. Most of the people travelling to central, Northern and eastern Indian will have to face problems in the coming months.

The new development has come at a time when there is huge rush to booking tickets, people go to native places, vacation, etc., just to lure tourist the railways have changed the schedule. The common people will find it more difficult to plan their schedule, as majority of the passengers plan their travel one to two months in advance. This will benefit the travel agents. In the peak season’s people even pay double the amount to get confirmed to Railway travel agents.