Railway Rules: Why did the railways change the rules for advance ticket booking? Know the reason behind this..

Just before Diwali, the Railways has made a big change in the booking timing of train tickets. Taking an important decision regarding advance ticket booking, the Railways said that now passengers will be able to book tickets for their journey only 60 days in advance instead of 120 days. This new rule will come into effect from November 1, 2024. But, do you know why the Railways has taken this decision and on which trains this rule will not apply? According to the new rule of Railways, from November 1, 2024, passengers will be able to book tickets in advance only up to 60 days before their date of travel. Railways has also clarified that this period of 60 days will be considered excluding the date of train travel. However, till October 31, 2024, the old rules of booking i.e. the time limit of 120 days will remain applicable.

On which trains the new rule will not apply.
Railways have informed us that this new rule will not apply to some special trains, like the Taj Express and Gomti Express. No change has been made to the booking rules for these trains. Apart from this, the facility of booking for up to 365 days for foreign tourists will remain as before, that is, this rule will not have any effect on foreign travelers.

Black marketing will be stopped.
Railways also said that currently, only 13 percent of the passengers book tickets 120 days in advance, while most of the passengers book tickets up to 45 days before their journey. Due to such a long time limit in advance booking of tickets, the problems of ticket cancellation and refund increase. The new rule is expected to effectively stop black marketing of tickets, which will benefit the passengers and make the system more transparent.

This decision of the Railways has been taken keeping in mind the increasing demand for tickets during festivals and the problems of black marketing so that the passengers do not face any inconvenience in ticket booking.