Indian Railways Ticket Reservation Rules Explained In 10 Brief Points

Indian Railways offers reservation of tickets via it's online ticketing arm-IRCTC (Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation) and offline bookings from railway reservation offices and authorised travel agency. The Indian Railway administration reserves seats, berths, compartments, or carriage in accordance with the rules and conditions published in the coaching tariff, said IRCTC on it's official website- irctc.co.in. Advance reservations are made generally up to 120 days in advance for all classes and all trains. The period of advance reservation (ARP) is exclusive of the day of departure of the train.

Here are 10 Indian Railways' reservation rules that you must know:

1. An individual can book only up to six tickets on one requisition form provided all passengers are for the same destination and for the same train, as mentioned on indianrail.gov.in.

2. Any one of the passenger booked on a PNR (Passenger Name Record) for undertaking journey in any class is required to produce any one of the prescribed proofs of identity in original during the journey failing which all the passengers booked on that ticket is treated as traveling without ticket and charged accordingly.

3. Only one requisition form is accepted from a person at one time. However, if onward/return journey are involved, 2 or 3 forms can be accepted for the same passengers, said Indian Railways.

4. Accommodation cannot be reserved without purchase of necessary journey ticket. No reservation of accommodation is made on provisional basis.

5. When berths are reserved for passengers, the intention is to provide sleeping accommodation between 9 pm to 6 am. During 6 am to 9 pm, the passengers concerned, if required should make room for other passengers in compartment up to its carrying capacity.

6. Departure time printed on the ticket is indicative for the guidance of the passengers. Passengers must ascertain correct timings from the railway station on the day of journey. Such tickets are printed up to 120 days in advance. Any changes in timing after the issue of ticket cannot be advised.

7. The passengers whose names figure under RAC (Reservation Against Cancellation)., are provided reserved sitting accommodation initially and are likely to get berths becoming vacant due to last minutes cancellation of reservation of passengers not turning up in time before the departure of the train, notified Indian Railways.

8. The requests for reservation at the reservation counters are accepted up to 4 hours before the scheduled departure of the train, after which, the reservation can be done at the current counters at the stations up to one hour before the scheduled departure of the train and thereafter by the ticket collector/conductor on the platform, if vacant berths/seats are available.

9. If a passenger, for whom a berth or seat has been reserved, does not turn up to 10 minutes before the scheduled departure of the train, the railway administration may cancel the accommodation reserved for him and allot it to the passenger on the RAC list/waiting list accordingly on priority.

10. Passengers with confirmed reservation are allotted berths at the time of booking and the coach and berth numbers are indicated on the ticket itself.