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Reservations can be made at any
Indian Railway Reservation counter. There are so many counters
all over the country. Large cities like Mumbai, Chennai, and
Delhi, have counters at multiple centers to make booking easier.
Many of the manual reservation centers have now been
computerized where reservations from any station to any place
can be made.
These centers normally operate between 8 a.m. in the morning to
8 p.m. in the night except on Sundays when they close at 2.00
p.m. |
Almost all the routes
on the Indian Railways are crowded. So in such cases, advance
Reservations are possible. Even for this, the public has to wait
in long queues and sometimes gets only a wait listed ticket.
Advance reservations can usually be made 60 days prior to the
date of journey excluding the date of journey.
Confirmed reservations ensure that you are officially permitted
to enter and travel by the train in the seat number allotted to
you. Reservations can be made for a maximum of 6 persons in a
single ticket provided all of them have the same destination.
There are certain authorized travel agencies, which can also
issue tickets. From the year 2001 onwards, Senior citizens are
allowed a 30% reduction on their reserved tickets. On line
reservations are also possible, but most people in India do not
have access to a computer and internet, so the lines at the
computerized reservations counters just keep getting longer and
longer.
The status of your reserved ticket is indicated as “confirmed”
if the ticket indicates a coach and berth number. If it is
indicated AS RAC, then you can enter the coach, but will be
provided only sitting. If the ticket is waitlisted., it means
you cannot get into the reserved coaches.
Cancellation of reservations can be done even after the train
departs. The amount that will be returned to you will be about
50% of what you paid. However if you cancel a waitlisted ticket,
there is no cancellation fee provided you cancel the ticket well
in advance.
In addition to ordinary reservation, there is an emergency
reservation scheme called “TATKAL”.
Reservation for certain trains for which Tatkal reservation is
admissible can be done 5 days before the date of journey. Of
course, an additional fee has to be paid for this emergency
reservation and such Tatkal tickets cannot be changed or
cancelled.
Indian Railways reservation for passengers who wish to go on
sight seeing or pilgrimage trips can book their tickets in
advance. Such reservations are possible for all classes provided
the journey begins and ends at the same station. Break journeys
are admissible provided they are not more than eight. The
journey should be completed within the validity period mentioned
in the ticket.
Indian Railways also allow special reservation for people
traveling in groups. Now Indian Railways reservations can be
made online. Not only is online reservation possible, but
checking whether a waitlisted ticket is confirmed, checking
whether there is a change in fare or finding out the latest
train timings are possible.
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