Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav said that from January, passengers can change the journey date of their confirmed train ticket online without any fee. Vaishnav said that this system is unfair and not in the interest of the passengers. ”He further said that instructions have been issued to implement the changes. Currently, passengers are not allowed to change the journey date of online tickets. Passengers have to cancel the existing tickets and book a new ticket for their intended date, which the cancellation fee is applied.
However, the Railway Minister clarified that there is no guarantee of getting confirmed tickets on the new date, as it depends on the availability of the seat. In addition, if the price of the new ticket is high, then the passengers will have to pay a difference of fare. Recently, IRCTC has announced new guidelines for online booking of general tickets to be booked through the IRCTC website or app. Amended IRCTC guidelines related to base-prohibited users will be applicable from October.
According to IRCTC statement, this rule will only apply to online booking of reserved general tickets. There will be no change in the time of booking general reserved tickets through computerized passenger reservation system (PRS) counters of Indian Railways.