Railways to Prepare Reservation Charts 8 Hours in Advance for Long-Distance Trains

Accordingly, for trains departing before 2 pm, the charts will be prepared the previous night at 9 pm. The ministry said this will help passengers travelling from remote locations plan their journeys better and will reduce uncertainties for passengers with waitlist tickets. The Railways will also share in advance the first update on waitlist status.

Railways said currently, the reservation chart is prepared four hours before the departure of the train which creates uncertainty in the minds of passengers. “Wherever passengers are coming from a nearby area to catch the train, this uncertainty can cause serious problems. To remove this uncertainty, the Railway Board has proposed preparing the reservation chart eight hours before the departure…This move will reduce uncertainties for passengers with waitlist tickets… It will also provide more time to make alternative arrangements in case the wait list is not confirmed,” Railways said.

It added that the new upgraded Passenger Reservation System (PRS) will allow over 1.5 lakh ticket bookings per minute. This will be an increase of roughly five times from 32,000 tickets per minute in the current PRS.

Besides, from July 1, only authenticated users would be allowed to book Tatkal tickets on the IRCTC website and mobile app. For this OTP-based authentication will be done.

Union Railways Minister Mr Ashwini Vaishnaw has instructed officials to broadbase the authentication mechanism for Tatkal bookings. The authentication should be done using Aadhaar or any other verifiable government ID available in the user’s DigiLocker account. The Railways is also introducing a digital locker facility for passengers at stations.