Indian Railways to provide train tickets to passengers 5 minutes before departure from Oct 10

New Delhi, Oct 09: From October 10, railway seats will be available even five minutes before the train leaves the station, as the Indian Railways has decided to restore the pre-covid system of preparing the second reservation chart half an hour before the departure time.

However, it can be seen that regular passenger train services remain suspended in wake of the pandemic. But the Indian Railways in a staggered manner is restoring the pre-covid practices and is also running special trains.

Here is all you need to know about the new changes:

1. The second reservation charts will be prepared 30 minutes before the schedule departure of trains from stations. This was normal before COVID-19. But when the Indian Railways started special passenger trains, the second reservation chart was being prepared two hours before the schedule departure.

2. Train tickets can be booked until second reservation chart is prepared. As from tomorrow, these charts will be prepared between 30 minutes to 5 minutes before the scheduled departure.

3. If seats become vacant owing to cancellation, they can be booked through PRS counters and online till the preparation of the second chart.

4. Tickets can also be cancelled during this time, as per the provisions of the refund rules.

5. The timings were changed during the coronavirus pandemic as initially tickets were only available online. The Railways was avoiding crowd at the stations and the aim was to discourage people from travelling unless absolutely necessary.

6. Recently, the Centre has been focusing more on reopening instead of locking down. The Railways has started several new trains as well. With the festive season coming, the Railways has already announced 39 pairs of new special trains.