Railways - FACILITIES EXTENDED TO SENIOR CITIZENS

Railways

50% Concession for Male senior citizens and 40% Concession for Lady senior citizens

FACILITIES EXTENDED TO SENIOR CITIZENS

The following facilities have been extended from time to time to Senior citizens:

(i) As per rules, male senior citizens of minimum 60 years and lady senior citizens of minimum 58 years are granted concession in the fares of all classes of Mail/ Express/ Rajdhani/ Shatabdi/ , Jan Shatabdi/ Duronto group of trains. The element of concession is 40% for men and 50% for women.

No proof of age is required at the time of purchasing tickets. However, they are required to carry some documentary proof as prescribed showing their age or date of birth and have to produce it if demanded by on-board ticket checking staff. Senior citizens can book reserved tickets across the reservation counters as well as through internet.

(ii) In the computerized Passenger Reservation System (PRS) there is a provision to allot lower berths to Senior Citizens, Female passengers of 45 years and above automatically, even if no choice is given, subject to availability of accommodation at the time of booking.

(iii) A combined quota of six to seven lower berths per coach in Sleeper class, four to five lower berths per coach each in Air Conditioned 3 tier (3AC) and three to four lower berths per coach in Air Conditioned 2 tier (2AC) classes (depending on the number of coaches of that class in the train) has been earmarked for senior citizens, female passengers 45 years of age and above and pregnant women.

(iv) Accommodation is also earmarked for senior citizens during specified hours on suburban sections by Central & Western Railways.

(v) Instructions exist for provision of wheel chairs at stations. This facility is provided, duly escorted by coolies (on payment) as per present practice. Moreover, Zonal Railways have also been advised to provide ‘Battery Operated Vehicles for persons with disability and Old Aged Passengers’ at Railway Stations on merit - whether free of cost through commercial publicity route or through ‘user pays’ route. In addition, passenger can book e-wheel chairs online through IRCTC portal www.irctc.co.in.

(vi) To help old and disabled passengers requiring assistance at the stations and to strengthen the existing services, ‘Yatri Mitra Sewa’ is being provided through IRCTC at major stations for enabling passengers to book wheel chair services cum porter services etc.

(vii) After departure of the train, if there are vacant lower berths available in the train and if any person with disability booked on the authority of handicapped concession or a senior citizen or a pregnant woman, who has been allotted upper/ middle berth, approaches for allotment of vacant lower berths, the on board Ticket Checking Staff has been authorized to allot the vacant lower berth to them making necessary entries in the chart.

(viii) Separate counters are earmarked at various Passenger Reservation System (PRS) centers for dealing with the reservation requisitions received from persons with disability, Senior Citizens, Ex. MPs, MLAs, accredited journalists and freedom fighters, if the average demand per shift not less than 120 tickets.

In case there is no justification for earmarking of an exclusive counter for any of these categories of persons including persons with disability or senior citizens, one or two counters depending upon the total demand are earmarked for dealing with the reservation requests for all these categories of persons.

Source: Indian Railways

Types of Reservation Quotas in Indian Railways

Types of Reservation Quotas in Indian Railways

Ministry of Railways

Categories of Reservation Quotas in Indian Railways

With a view to cater to requirements of different categories of passengers served by Indian Railways, available reserved accommodation is distributed broadly under following types of reservation quotas:

S.NO.	QUOTA	AVAILABLE FOR
1.	General	General Public
2.	Tatkal	General Public
3.	Premium Tatkal	General Public
4.	Parliament House	Hon’ble Members of Parliament (Sitting and Former)
5.	Ladies	Female passenger travelling alone or in a group of female passengers
6.	Senior Citizen	Combined quota for senior citizens, female passengers above 45 years & pregnant women
7.	Foreign Tourist	Foreigners
8.	Defence	Defence Personnel
9.	Roadside	General Public
10.	Pooled	General Public
11.	Cancer Patient	Cancer Patients
12.	RAC(Reservation Against Cancellation)	General Public
13.	Physically Handicapped	Divyangjan
14.	Duty Pass	Serving/retired Railway employees travelling on Duty/Privilege/Post retirement complimentary passes etc. in specified trains
15.	Railway Employees	Designated Railway employees travelling on Duty in trains
16.	Yuva	Unemployed persons between the age of 15 & 45
17.	Emergency	Urgent travel requirement of High Official Requisition (HOR) holders, Members of Parliament, and general public

While booking reserved tickets through the website of Indian Railway Catering & Tourism Corporation(IRCTC), passengers can book tickets under General Quota, Ladies Quota, Foreign Tourist Quota, Premium Tatkal Quota, Tatkal Quota, Senior Citizen Quota, and Physically Handicapped (Divyangjan) Quota. In addition to the above quotas, accommodation can also be allotted under Reservation Against Cancellation(RAC) & Pooled Quota while booking reserved tickets through website of IRCTC. These reservation quotas constitute approximately 94% of total reserved accommodation available on Indian Railways, which can be booked both through internet as well as through computerised Passenger Reservation System (PRS) of Indian Railways.

To avoid any misuse, this facility is generally not extended for those quotas which require prior physical verification of documents. However, recently this facility has been extended to persons with disability, Press correspondents and Defence Personnel. Extension of such facilities to different categories of passengers is a continuous and ongoing exercise.

This information was given by the Minister of State of Railways, Shri Rajen Gohain in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today.

Source: PIB

Revision of Flexi Fare Scheme of Indian Railways

Ministry of Railways

Revision of Flexi Fare Scheme of Indian Railways

Flexi fare scheme has been introduced in Rajdhani, Shatabdi and Duronto trains from 09.09.2016. Under this scheme, the fare increases by 10% with every 10% of berths sold subject to maximum limit of 1.5 times in classes Second AC, Sleeper, Second Sitting (reserved), AC Chair Car and 1.4 times in 3rd AC class. No change has been made in the fare of First AC and Executive class.
Based on the feedback from different quarters, a committee was constituted to review the flexi fare scheme and based on certain recommendations of the committee, Flexi fare scheme in Rajdhani, Shatabdi & Duronto Trains has been rationalized as under:

Flexi fare scheme has been discontinued from 15 trains, with average monthly occupancy less than 50%, for full year and from 32 trains, with average monthly occupancy between 50 to 75%, during pre-defined lean period of 3 months (February, March & August).

Maximum cap of flexi fare scheme has been reduced to 1.4 times in all flexi fare applicable classes.
Graded discount has been introduced in flexi fare trains and Humsafar trains, where class-wise occupancy is less than 60%, 4 days prior to scheduled departure of the train as under:-

OCCUPANCY	DISCOUNT
Up to 70%	20% on last fare
70 to 80%	10% on last fare
Above 80%	Nil

The above changes have been implemented for the journey commencing on 15.03.2019 and onwards.

This information was given by the Minister of State of Railways, Shri Rajen Gohain in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today.

Source: PIB

New Railway Time Table Effective from 15.8.2018

New Railway Time Table Effective from 15.8.2018

Ministry of Railways will be releasing its new All India Railway Time Table known as “TRAINS AT A GLANCE (TAG)” effective from 15th August, 2018

Ministry of Railways

Ministry of Railways will be Releasing New All India Railway Time Table (Train at A Glance) With Effect From 15th August 2018

In addition to The "Trains at a Glance", All Zonal Railways will also be Releasing their respective Zonal Railway Time Tables

The Ministry of Railways will be releasing its new All India Railway Time Table known as "TRAINS AT A GLANCE (TAG)" effective from 15th August, 2018. In addition to the "Trains at a Glance", all the 17 Zonal Railways will also be releasing their respective Zonal Railway Time Tables (5 Zonal time tables in all, each Zonal Time Table comprising 3-4 Zonal Railways) which will also come into effect from 15th August, 2018. The new Trains at a Glance will also be available w.e.f. 15th August, 2018 on Indian Railways' official website i.e. www.indianrailways.gov.in.
Important highlights of the new time table are as follows:

Overview
Indian Railways runs about 3500 reserved trains which include Gatiman Express, Rajdhani Express, Humsaafar Express, Tejas Express, Duronto Express, Antyodaya Express, Garib Rath Express, Shatabdi Express, Sampark Kranti Express, YUVA Express, Janshatabdi Express and other types of Express trains. This is in addition to about 4600 Passenger and 5000 EMU trains. The volume of passengers carried daily is about 2.22 million.
In addition, more than 36000 Special train trips were run during 2017-18 to clear extra rush and meet passenger demand. About 500 coaches were permanently augmented in about 300 trains to increase the carrying capacity.

III. Proliferation of new train services:
In the year 2017-18, 90 number of new services was introduced, 43 number of services were extended and increase in frequency of 9 number of services was done. In the current year upto 15.08.2018, 35 number of services have already been introduced, 28 number of services have been extended and increase in frequency of 5 number of services have been effected.
Till date, 23 Humsafar Express trains, 10 Antyodaya Express trains, 1 Tejas Express, 1 Uday Express which have already been introduced have been incorporated in the new Time Table. In addition, 1 Antyodaya Express train, 2 Tejas Express, 2 Uday Express trains still to be introduced have also been included.

After a review of lie over periods of rakes at destinations it was noticed that rake utilization can be further improved. The review revealed that rakes of trains that were having lie overs at the terminals can be utilized for providing new services, extending existing services and increase the frequency of some trains. Accordingly 24 new trains, 66 extension of trains and 4 increase in frequency of trains which have already been started using the lie over rakes have been incorporated in the new Time Table w.e.f. 15.08.2018.

IV. Replacement of conventional Passenger trains with MEMU/DEMU: The short distance passenger trains especially having reversal enroute are being replaced by Mainline Electric Multiple Units (MEMUs) & Diesel Electric Multiple Units (DEMUs). In the year 2017-18, 57 number of conventional passenger services have been replaced by MEMUs/DEMUs thereby increasing the overall mobility of the system. In the current year, 50 conventional services have already been replaced by MEMU/DEMU upto 15.08.2018 and 50 more conventional services are planned to be replaced by 31.03.2019.

Corridor blocks: To provide sufficient time for the maintenance of the fixed infrastructure like track structure, signalling gears, overhead equipments, it has been planned to ensure provision of fixed corridor blocks. Zonal Railways have incorporated traffic corridor blocks of 2.5 to 3 hours duration in the new Working Time Table w.e.f. 15.08.2018. In the WTT 2018, the duration of corridor blocks is about 292 hours more than the corridor blocks available in WTT 2017.

VI. Mega blocks: In addition, 4 to 5 hours mega block has also been worked out in different sections of each Division on one day of the week (preferably Sunday) to carry out major maintenance works. In these mega blocks, all maintenance works including civil, over head traction (OHE), signal & telecommunication will be undertaken by pooling of resources to achieve maximum output. This will not only improve the reliability of the assets but also enhance the passenger safety. Mega blocks on more than 95% sections in all the Divisions of Indian Railways have been incorporated in the new time table. The intimation of mega block planned for Sunday is to be conveyed to Railway Board by Tuesday. In case mega block is availed, Zonal Railways may allow 2 hours corridor block on 3 alternate days in the week.

Charting at booked speed: The charting of trains having MPS of 110 Kmph has been carried out at 105 Kmph to the extent possible to reflect actual running. This will further help in improving the punctuality of the trains. The Rajdhani, Shatabdi, Tejas, Gatimaan, Humsafar, Garibrath, Duronto & Antyodaya Express trains having MPS of 130 Kmph have however been charted at 130 kmph.

Efforts to improve punctuality of late running trains: A careful analysis of the reasons for loss of punctuality has been carried out for trains regularly running late and necessary changes in the time table have been incorporated to improve punctuality.

IX. Replacement of conventional rakes by LHB rakes: To provide more safe and comfortable journey the conventional rakes are being replaced by LHB rakes. In the year 2017-18, 49 number of conventional rakes have been replaced by LHB rakes. In the current financial year, 48 rakes have already been replaced by LHB rakes upto 15.08.2018 and 66 more rakes are planned to be replaced by 31.03.2019.

Rationalization of terminals: To avoid criss-cross movement at important stations, the terminals of important trains have been changed. In the current financial year, terminals of 23 number of trains have been shifted. 12 trains in NR, 5 trains in NCR, 1 trains in ECR, 1 train in NWR & 4 trains in SCR have been shifted.

XI. Bye passing of terminals to avoid reversal: To streamline the operations by avoiding reversal, 20 trains have been shifted to adjacent terminals. In the current financial year, the terminals of 4 trains in SECR, 7 trains in WCR, 2 trains in ECoR, 5 trains in SER & 2 trains in NCR have been shifted.

Southern Zone
Railways Time Table

Revision of Advance Reservation Period for Running of Suvidha Trains and Special Trains on Special Charges

Revision of Advance Reservation Period for Running of Suvidha Trains and Special Trains on Special Charges

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS
(RAILWAY BOARD)

Commercial Circular No.37 of 2018
No.TC-II/2910/2013/Dynamic pricing/C

New Delhi, dated: 12.07.2018

The Principal Chief Commercial Managers
All Zonal Railways
The Managing Director,
CRIS, Chanakyapuri,
New Delhi.

The Chairman & Managing Director,
Indian Railways Catering & Tourism Corporation.,
11th floor, B-148, Statesman House,
Barakhamba Road, N.Delhi-110001

Sub: Revision of advance reservation period for running of Suvidha trains and special trains on special charges.

REF: 1. Commercial circular no. 30 of 2015 dated 21.05.2015.
2. Commercial circular no. 33 of 2015 dated 02.06.2015.
3. Commercial circular no. 40 of 2015 dated 01.07.2015
4. Commercial circular no. 03 of 2018 dated 12.01.2015

In continuation of above instructions, Ministry of Railways have decided that the currency of above instructions regarding revision of Advance Reservation Period for running of all Suvidha Trains and Special Trains on Special Charges to 120 Days and applicability of normal refund rule even in Suvidha Trains shall be extended for another period of one year i.e. from 15.7.2018 to 14.07.2019.

2. Zonal Railways may review the scheme on held yearly basis to assess the effectiveness of the scheme.

3. This issues with the concurrence of the Finance Directorate of the Ministry of Railways.

sd/-
(Shelly Srivastava)
Director Passenger Marketing
Railway Board

Source: http://www.indianrailways.gov.in

Other IRCTC Latest updates…

COMMERCIAL CIRCULARS OF 2018
Link of Circular	Subject
CC-38	Discounted fare in Shatabdi trains from Ahmedabad to Vadodara
CC-37	Revision of advance reservation period for running of Suvidha trains and special trains on special charges
CC-36	Booking of FTR trains/coaches online through single window booking system by IRCTC
CC-35	Earmarking of accommodation in pantry car of Rajdhani Express trains for different category of staff.
CC-34	Earmarking of dedicated berth/seat for IRCTC Manager in trains.
CC-33	Acceptance of digital Aadhaar and Driving Licence from Digital Locker as proof of identity of passengers for undertaking journey by train.
CC-32	Revalidation of Photo identity cards of Accredited Press Correspondents.

Release of Berths Under Emergency Quota in Railways

Emergency Quota in Railways to High Official Requisition (HOR) Holders

Release of Berths Under Emergency Quota in Railways

In order to meet the urgent travel requirements of High Official Requisition (HOR) holders, which includes Central Government Ministers, Judges of Hon'ble Supreme Court/High Courts of various States, Members of Parliament and other emergent demands, who are on the waiting list, a limited number of berths have been earmarked as Emergency Quota in different trains and in different classes.

The quota is released by the Railways in accordance with the priority as per warrant of precedence and well established practice being followed since long. At the time of allotment of berths/seats, emergency quota is first allotted for self travel of HOR holders/Members of Parliament, etc., strictly as per their inter-seniority in warrant of precedence.

Thereafter, other requisitions received from various quarters are considered and the remaining quota is released taking into account various factors like status of passengers travelling, nature of urgency like travelling on government duty, bereavement in the family, sickness, job interview, etc.

Emergency Quota Cells are located at Zonal/Divisional Headquarters and at some of the important non-Headquarter stations. These Cells normally function under the control of a gazetted officer supported by requisite number of staff posted by Zonal Railways.

This information was made available in reply to a question in Rajya Sabha.

Source: PIB

5% GST applicable to supply of food and drinks made available in trains, platforms or stations

5% GST to Train Food and Drinks

5% GST applicable to supply of food and drinks made available in trains, platforms or stations

Ministry of Finance
5% Uniform rate of GST to apply in all railway catering services in trains or on stations

With a view to remove any doubt or uncertainty in the matter and bring uniformity in the rate of GST applicable to supply of food and drinks made available in trains, platforms or stations, it has been clarified with the approval of the competent authority that the GST rate on supply of food and drinks by the Indian Railways or Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation Ltd. or their licensees, whether in trains or at platforms (static units), will be 5% without input tax credit. The copy of letter F.No. 354/03/2018-TRU dated 31.03.2018 (Order No. 2/2018 - GST) issued to the Railway Board is available atwww.cbec.gov.in .

Booking to Tatkal Tickets & Measures to Avoid Misuse of Tatkal Scheme

Ministry of Railways

Booking to Tatkal Tickets & Measures to Avoid Misuse of Tatkal Scheme

On Indian Railways, reserved accommodation including Tatkal accommodation can be booked through computerised Passenger Reservation System (PRS) on first come first served basis. During peak rush periods/days when demand outstrips the availability, reserved accommodation especially in higher classes and on popular routes gets exhausted within short duration of opening of reservation. However, during lean periods, on non-popular and lower classes, the accommodation remains available for longer duration. The phenomenon is more relevant for Tatkal where limited accommodation is earmarked. This happens as the available limited accommodation is accessed simultaneously through more than 10,300 counters at 3465 computerised Passenger Reservation Centers as well as through internet.

To avoid misuse of Tatkal Scheme, there are some inbuilt features in Tatkal scheme which includes provision of not granting refund on cancellation of confirmed Tatkal tickets except in case of certain special circumstances indicated in the scheme, not allowing any modification of Tatkal ticket, etc. Some additional steps have also been taken to facilitate the passengers and to avoid the misuse, some of which are:-

• Staggering of the timings of reservation under Tatkal scheme.
• Captcha implementation in Registration, Login and Booking page to check fraudulent booking through automation software.
• Imposition of minimum time limit before proceeding for payment gateway as well as after making payment while booking tickets through internet.
• Making OTP(one time password) compulsory for all net Banking Payment options.
• Disabling authorised agents to book Tatkal tickets during first half an hour of opening of reservation.

To keep a check on the activities of touts, preventive as well as regular checks are conducted jointly/individually by Vigilance, Security and Commercial Departments, and the action against the culprits is taken as per provisions of Section 143 of Railways Act, 1989.

This information was made available in reply to a question in Rajya Sabha.

Source: PIB

Pasting of Reservation Charts on Train Coaches Discontinued?

Pasting of Reservation Charts on Train Coaches Discontinued?

Discontinuing Reservation Chart Preparation

Based on a similar successful experiment conducted by South Western Railway, the practice of pasting of reservation charts on train coaches was discontinued at New Delhi, Hazrat Nizamuddin, Bombay Central, Chennai Central, Howrah and Sealdah stations of Indian Railways on experimental basis for a period of three months. Keeping in view the positive feedback received from Zonal Railways, it has been decided to discontinue pasting of reservation charts on reserved coaches of trains at all erstwhile A1, A & B category of stations as a pilot project for six months starting from 01.03.2018.

The logic behind doing away with the practice of pasting of reservation charts on reserved coaches is as under:-

(i) Passengers holding confirmed ticket are aware of their coach/berth number as the same is indicated on the tickets at the time of booking itself, except in case of First Class air-conditioned class.
(ii) At present around 65% of the reserved tickets are being issued through internet for which, mobile number is invariably captured on which an SMS is sent at the time of booking.
(iii) Waitlisted and Reservation Against Cancellation (RAC) passengers get their status update on their registered mobile number through SMS at the time of preparation of first reservation chart which is at least four hours before the scheduled departure of the train.
(iv) Digital charting system has been installed at major stations and at other stations manual boards are installed for displaying the status of the waitlisted tickets to guide the passengers.
(v) Apart from the above, Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS) service through 139, online booking website is available for passengers for checking the status of the tickets on real time basis.
(vi) It will save the cost of stationery as well as savings on account of manpower involved in pasting of reservation charts.

In view of the reasons mentioned above, now there is no need for the passengers to check their reservation status through the reservation charts displayed on the coaches. Moreover, reservation charts continue to be displayed on the station platforms for passengers including senior citizens who would like to view it on charts/ digital charts in all stations including A-1, A & B category stations.

This information was given by the Minister of State for Railways and Coal Shri Rajen Gohain in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha on 14.3.2018.

CHANGE OF NAME OF A PASSENGER ON CONFIRMED RESERVATION TICKET

Indian railways announced that can able to Change Passenger name in IRCTC Reserved Ticket

CHANGE OF NAME OF A PASSENGER ON CONFIRMED RESERVATION TICKET

A change of name in reservation is permitted only by Sr.Divisional Commercial Manager of concerned division. Where there is no post of Sr.Divisional Commercial Manager, the change of name in reservation is permitted by Divisional Commercial Manager of concerned division on written requisition tendered by party along with documents as required under the rules 24 hours prior to the scheduled departure of train in following circumstances.

(i) Government servant proceeding on duty on production of a letter from the appropriate authority.

(ii) Between family members due to unavoidable circumstances, viz. father, mother, brother, sister, son, daughter, husband and wife. No cancellation and reservation charges are recovered in this case. The station Manager will be competent to permit alteration of reservation under the condition mentioned above.

(iii) However, in case of group travelling together, party's written request should be tendered in writing 48 hours before scheduled departure of train and change of name is not permitted in excess of 10% of total strength of the group/party.

Change in the Name of Passenger Holding Confirmed Reservation

1. Save as otherwise, a berth or a seat reserved in the name of a person shall be used only by the person and shall not be transferable to any other person.

2. Chief Reservation Supervisor of important stations are authorized by Railway Administration to permit the change of name of a passenger having a seat or berth reserved in his name in the following circumstances namely :

(a) Where the passenger is a Government Servant, proceeding on duty and appropriate authority, makes a request in writing 24 hours before the scheduled departure of trains

(b) Where the passenger makes a request in writing 24 hours before the scheduled departure of the train that the reservation made in his name may be transferred to another member of his family, meaning, Father, Mother, Brother, Sister, Son, Daughter, Husband and Wife.

(c) Where the passengers are students of a recognized educational institution and the Head of the institution makes a request in writing 48 hours before the scheduled departure of the train, that the reservation made in the name of any student be transferred to any other student of the same institute.

(d) Where the passengers are members of a marriage party and any person deemed to be Head of such party makes a request in writing 48 hours before the scheduled departure of the train that the reservation made in the name of any member of the marriage party be transferred to any other person.

(e) Where the passengers are a group of cadets of National Cadet Corps and any officer who is the head of the group, makes a request in writing at least 24 hours before the departure of the train that the reservation made in the name of any cadet be transferred to any other cadet.

Such request will be granted only once. Regarding item no. (c), (d) and (e), such request for change in excess of 10% of the total strength of group shall not be granted.

Source: www.indianrailways.gov.in

Railways: Clarification on booking of YTSK tickets through telephone

Railways: Clarification on booking of YTSK tickets through telephone

Government of India
Ministry of Railways
(Railway Board)

No. 2017/TG-I/23/P/YTSK

Date: 07.12.2017

Principal Chief Commercial Managers,
All Zonal Railways.

(Commercial Circular no. 81 of 2017)

Sub: Clarification on booking of YTSK tickets through telephone.

With a view to expanding the facilities for issuing of tickets (both reserved and unreserved) and allowing public private partnership in establishment and operation of computerized PRS-cum-UTS terminals at centres called Yatri Ticket Suvidha Kendra (YTSK), the YTSK scheme was launched vide Commercial Circular no. 33 of 2014. Thereafter, on the basis of feedback received, amendments have been made in the scheme from time to time.

2.A reference has been received from Northern Railway forwarding therewith a request received from YTSK Association, Delhi’s to permit YTSKs to book tickets on telephone. In this connection, the Association has referred to the feature of booking reserved ticket telephonically which finds mention in both RTSA Rules, 1985 as well as RTSA Rules, 2014 (under which RTSAs started functioning as e-ticketing agents)

3.The matter has been examined in this office and keeping in view the fact that the provision for booking reserved ticket telephonically figures in RTSA Rules, 1985 as well as RTSA Rules, 2014 and also in Computerised Ticket Service Provider Licencee (CTSPL) scheme which was introduced in the year 2000 allowing provision of PRS terminals to RTSAs, it has been decided that YTSKs may be allowed to book tickets on telephone. However, Zonal Railways are requested to ensure that in case the YTSK licensee acts on a telephone call, a written request shall be obtained by the Licensee from the client before delivering the railway ticket to him.

4.Necessary instructions may be issue to all concerned accordingly.

sd/-
(Harvinder Singh)
Jt. Director Traffic Commercial (G)
Railway Board

Authority: http://www.indianrailways.gov.in/

Railways: Revision of Cloak Room and Locker charges at Railway Stations

Railways: Revision of Cloak Room and Locker charges at Railway Stations

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS
(RAILWAY BOARD)

No. 2015/TG-IV/14/P/Lockers

New Delhi, Dt.21.12.2017

The General Managers,
All Zonal Railways.
(Commercial Circular No. 83/2017)

Sub: Revision of Cloak Room and Locker charges at Railway Stations.

Please refer to Board’s letter no: 91/TG-I/10/P/Cloak Room Charges dated 23.01.2013 (CC No. 09/2013) wherein the last revision of Cloak Room and Locker charges were notified.

It has, now, been decided that DRMs shall have full powers for upward revision of the Cloak Room and Locker tariff at stations based on their local conditions after obtaining concurrence of their Associate Finance.

This issues with the concurrence of the Finance Directorate of Ministry of Railways.

sd/-
(Harvinder Singh)
Jt. Director Traffic Comml.(G)
Railway Board

Authority: http://www.indianrailways.gov.in/

IRCTC News : GST on Catering Services

IRCTC News : GST on Catering Services

Applicability of Goods and Service Tax (GST) on Catering Services

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS
(RAILWAY BOARD)

No.2012/TG.III/631/2

New Delhi dated 29.06.2017

The General Managers
All Indian Railways

The CMD/IRCTC
New Delhi

CMD/KRCL,
Navi Mumbai

(Commercial Circular No.44 of 2017)

Sub: Applicability of Goods and Service Tax (GST) on Catering Services
The issue of implementation of Goods and Service Tax (GST) on Catering Services on Indian Railways has been examined in consultation of Finance Commercial Dte. of Railway Board. Accordingly, following are advised:-

1. The chargeable GST on catering services on railways is as under:-

(i) For static units not having facility of air conditioning or central heating at any time during the year- 12% with full Input Tax Credit (ITC)
(ii) For static units having facility of air conditioning or central heating at any time during the year-18% with full Input Tax Credit (ITC)
(iii) For Rajdhani/Shatabdi/Duronto and other Mail/Express trains -18% with full Input Tax Credit (ITC)

2. The above GST on catering charges is applicable w.e.f 01.07.2017.

3. The revised catering apportionment charges for Rajdhani/Shatabdi/Duronto trains and other similar type of Rajdhani trains where catering charges are inbuilt in ticket fare are as under:-

4. In case of Rajdhani/Shatabdi/Duronto type trains where catering charges are part of the ticket fare, amount of GST is to be reimbursed to the service providers on submission of proof of deposit of the same with the appropriate Government Authority. However, in case of Mail/Express trains and other static units where catering services are provided on payment basis and the above taxes are collected directly from the passengers through cash memo, money receipts etc., Zonal railways /IRCTC shall ensure that the GST collect from the passenger are deposited with the concerned Authorities as per the guidelines /procedures laid down by the M/o Finance. To ensure the same zonal railways shall also obtain monthly proof of compliance of tax deposit by the service provides as per laid down procedures.

5. In case of other mail/express trains and static unit, the GST amount shall not be rounded off. In case of showing separate GST amount for CGST and SGST/UTGST in that case also GST amount shall be separately mentioned upto two decimal place. As regard rounding off of chargeable amount, after levy of GST on the total amount it shall be rounded off to the nearest rupee.

6. In addition to the above, GST on catering services of other premium trains like Tejas, Gatiman, Shivalik etc. shall be levied @ 18%. Accordingly, necessary changes in the catering apportionment charges shall be advised by the Zonal Railways to CRIS.

This issue with the concurrence of Finance Dte. of Railway Board.

Please acknowledge receipt of this letter.

sd/-
(Smita Rawat)
Exe. Director (T&C)
Railway Board

Click Here to view the original order
Authority : www.indianrailways.gov.i

Aadhaar Must for Booking Online Train Tickets - How to enable?

Aadhaar Must for Booking Online Train Tickets - How to enable?

The Indian Railways is planning to move further Aadhaar based train ticket booking system through online to prevent touts. Now, IRCTC requested to all passengers who are all registered with this portal, entry their passenger detail with Aadhaar number.

Aadhaar verification is going to be mandatory to avail Senior Citizen concession in Railway booking soon, Please provide Aadhaar ID to add and verify Senior Citizen Passenger details through IRCTC Web portal. You can add the passengers list with Aadhaar number. Aadhaar verification is available only for Senior Citizens and not for all.

How to enable Aadhaar Authentication Service for Senior Citizen Passengers through IRCTC.

Steps to Authenticate Aadhaar Details
1. Login using your IRCTC User ID and Password on IRCTC eTicketing website.
2. Click "Master List" link under "My Profile" menu.

3. While adding new senior citizen passengers in the Master list, provide correct and complete details i.e. Name, Date of Birth, Gender as mentioned in the Aadhaar Card. Thereafter, select Senior Citizen concession option as Yes/No, ID card type as Aadhaar ID and provide Aadhaar number.

 4. Ensure that correct details as per Aadhaar Card have been submitted.
5. Click on "Add Passenger" button to Add Senior Citizen passenger and authenticate Aadhaar details.
6. Passengers will be added in the Master list with Verification Status as "Pending".
7. To check the verification status of Aadhaar details, use "Click here to check pending Aadhaar verification status" option provided in the section.

 8. Verification status of Senior Citizen passengers who have authenticated their Aadhaar details successfully will be "Verified" and for failed authentications verification status will "Not Verified".
9. Senior Citizen passengers already available in the Master list without Aadhaar verification can also be verified by using "Edit" option and submitting complete details including Aadhaar number.

Steps to Select Aadhaar verified Senior Citizen passengers during Ticketing Booking
1. After successful verification of Aadhaar details, Senior Citizen passengers can be selected from Master List and added to the Passenger Details while booking ticket.

 2. To add Aadhaar verified Senior Citizen passengers in the Passenger details page, use "Select Passenger From Your Master List" link. A pop up with complete details of Passengers in the Master List will be displayed. Passengers selected from this page will be added to the Passenger entry form.

Source: 90Paisa

Revision in the procedure of cancellation and refund of value of Rs.10,000/- and above for the PRS counter tickets booked from 09.11.2016 to 11.11.2016

Revision in the procedure of cancellation and refund of value of Rs.10,000/- and above for the PRS counter tickets booked from 09.11.2016 to 11.11.2016

COMMERCIAL CIRCULAR No.561 of 2016

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS
RAILWAY BOARD

No. TC-II/2003/2016/refund

New Delhi, 10.1.2016

To Chief Commercial Managers
All zonal Railways
Managing Director/CRIS/Chankyapuri/New Delhi
Managing/Director/IRCTC/New Delhi

Sub: Revision in the procedure of cancellation and refund of value of Rs.10,000/- and above for the PRS counter tickets booked from 09.11.2016 to 11.11.2016.

Ministry of Railways desire that tie procedure for cancellation of tickets and refund of value of Rs.10,000/- and above for the PRS counter tickets booked from 09.11.2016 to 11.11.2016 shall be revised as under:-

(i) Cancellation of such tickets and refund of fare of value Rs.10,000/- and above shall NOT be allowed in cash or through green pay order or by any means involving cash across the counter. The payment shall be only through Cheque / ECS payment.

(ii) Such ticket may be refunded through filing of TDR only on surrendering of original ticket. TDR shall filed within the prescribed time limit for cancellation of ticket across the counter as per Refund Rule e.g. TDR shall be filed only upta half an hour before the scheduled departure of the train for RAC/WL tickets and for confirmed tickets upto 4 hours before the scheduled departure of the train, for which ticket has been issued etc.,

(iii) In such cases TDR and rerund of fare as per refund shall be allowed for waitlisted tickets also only through Cheque / ECS payment.

(iv) This shall be implemented with immediate effect.

This issues with concurrence of Finance (Commercial) and Accounts Directorates of Ministry of Railways.
CRIS may make necessary changes in the software.

Ensue action accordingly and confirm.

sd/-
(Vikram Singh)
Director Passenger Marketing
Railway Board

Authority: www.indianrailways.gov.in

Maximum of 6 tickets can be booked by an individual user in a month – New restriction by IRCTC

Maximum of 6 tickets can be booked by an individual user in a month – New restriction by IRCTC

Press Information Bureau
Government of India
Ministry of Railways

28-January-2016 16:34 IST

Railway Ministry introduces new checks on booking of e-ticket/i-ticket through IRCTC website with a view to further prevent possible misuse

Under the new provisions a maximum of 6 tickets can be booked online by an individual user in a month on IRCTC website

This new provision will come into effect w.e.f. 15th February, 2015

The move aims to deter touts and to facilitate genuine users

In order to facilitate genuine users and prevent touting activities, various checks have already been put in place for the booking of e-ticket/i-ticket on IRCTC website including the following existing provision: –

1. Individuals are allowed only 2 tickets per user-ID in a day (for ARP booking) from 08:00 hours to 10.00 hours.

2. Individuals are allowed only 2 tickets per user-ID in a day (for Tatkal booking) from 10:00 hours to 12:00 hours.

3. Quick Book Option is disabled from 08:00 to 12:00 hours

4. All types of ticketing agents (YTSK, RTSA, IRCTC agents etc.) have been debarred from booking tickets during the first thirty minutes of opening of booking i.e. from 08:00 to 08:30 hours for general bookings, and from 10:00 to 10:30 hours and 11:00 to 11:30 hours for Tatkal booking in AC and non-AC classes respectively.

5. Booking is not allowed through e-wallet and cash cards from 08:00 to 12:00 hours.

6. There is only one booking in one user login session except for return/onward journey between 08:00 to 12:00 hours.

To further prevent any possible misuse, Ministry of Railways has now decided that effective from 15th February, 2016, a maximum of 6 tickets can be booked online by an individual user in a month on IRCTC website. This will replace the existing system under which a maximum of 10 tickets can be booked online through IRCTC website in a month by an individual. However, the existing condition will continue wherein these booking will be subject to a limit of booking 2 opening Tatkal tickets in 10:00- 12:00 hours period in a day and 2 opening Advance Reservation Period (ARP) tickets in 08:00-10:00 hours period in a day. 

This has been done keeping in view the analysis of usage of quota of 10 tickets which indicated that 90% of users are booking upto 6 tickets in a given month and only 10% are making more than 6 tickets. It is suspected that the 10% users might be involved in touting activities. Therefore to deter such touts and to facilitate genuine users, it has been decided that a maximum of 6 tickets can be booked by an individual user in a month.

Train Enquiry Mobile Application on iOS platform – IT Enabled Passenger Services Launched by Indian Railways

Train Enquiry Mobile Application on iOS platform – IT Enabled Passenger Services Launched by Indian Railways

Paperless Unreserved Tickets, Season tickets, Platforms tickets, CoTVM, Train Enquiry Mobile App

 

IT Enabled Passenger Services Launched by Indian Railways

Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu Launched these Services Through Video Conferencing from New Delhi. The Railway Minister Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu launched following IT enabled passenger services through video conferencing from New Delhi:

1. Paperless Unreserved Ticketing through Mobile Phones on suburban stations over Central Railway

2. Paperless Platforms tickets at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Dadar Central, Panvel, Thane and Lokmanya Tilak Terminus, Andheri, Mumbai Central, Borivali, Dadar Western, Dadar Central, Vasai Road, Bandra, New Delhi and Nizamudding stations on Northern Railway, Western Railway and Central Railway

3. Paperless Season tickets on suburban sections of Western Railway, Central Railway and New Delhi-Palwal Section of Northern Railway.

4. Currency, Coin – cum – Card operated Automatic Ticket Vending Machines at various suburban stations on Central Railway and Western Railway.

5. Train Enquiry Mobile Application on iOS platform.

On this occasion ,Chairman Railway Board, Shri AK Mital and other Board Members, Additional Member(C&IS) Shri Mohd. Jamshed, MD CRIS Ms Vandana Nanda were among those present at the programme.

Speaking on the occasion , Minister Of Railways Shri Suresh Prabhu said ­“Moving ahead in the direction of making Digital India, today, I am happy to inaugurate the System for Paperless Unreserved Tickets, Paperless Season Tickets and Paperless Platform Tickets through Mobile Phones, in the Mumbai Suburban system of WR and CR and Delhi – Palwal section of Northern Railway from today.

About 50 Currency-cum-coin-cum-card Ticket Vending Machines (CoTVMs) are now functional over various stations.

I am also happy to inaugurate the Currency and Coin Operated Ticket Vending Machines (CoTVMs), being installed at various stations of Central and Western Railway. All these initiatives were promised in my Budget Speech this year.

Another initiative that is being launched today is the Train Enquiry Mobile App on the iOS that is Apple platform. This app has been working very well on the Android and Windows based mobile phones and now will give good facilities for Apple phone users also.

The paperless Unreserved Ticketing System is a boon for passengers traveling in suburban areas, since it will drastically reduce the time a passenger takes at the station, waiting in queue to buy a ticket. It will enable “Mission 5 minutes” (not more than 5 minutes to buy a ticket) to become a reality. Railways will also benefit from this innovation because they will be able to cope with higher ticket sales with lower investments.

The Paperless Ticketing service is already running in some sections of Mumbai Western Railway and Delhi. With the latest launch, this service will be available across all of Mumbai’s suburban sections on both Central and Western Railways. This system is based on the “UTS on Mobile” app, which has a “Railway Wallet” feature. While this system has been introduced to increase passenger convenience, a few safeguards have been built-in to prevent misuse of the tickets. Firstly, the tickets cannot be forwarded from one phone to another. Second, one cannot buy the ticket after starting one’s journey. A system of distinct daily colour codes, embedded QR codes, and sync feature has been devised to ease the work of the ticket examiners, while providing unparalleled convenience to the users.

A very useful feature added today is that of buying Paperless Season Tickets and Paperless Platform Tickets through the Mobile App. The Paperless Season Ticket feature will be particularly useful for the suburban passengers, large numbers of whom travel on Season Tickets.

Another innovative system being introduced for Mumbai suburban section of Western Railway and Central Railway is the Cash/Smart Card operated Ticket Vending Machine (CoTVM), which is a self-service kiosk for passengers to buy their own unreserved tickets. It has a user-friendly graphical interface that can be used by all passengers. The machine takes currency notes and coins in addition to smart cards for payment. This will save the passengers’ precious time, and will ease the pressure on the Railway administration as well, enabling them to give better service to the passengers. Again, security features”

Procedure for booking of Paperless Unreserved Journey tickets, Season tickets and Platform tickets

Download the Mobile application from Google Play Store or Windows Store.

• Register by providing Mobile Number, Name, City, Train Type, Class, Ticket Type, Number of Passengers and Frequently travel routes.
• Payment has to be made using R-Wallet. Upon successful registration, R-Wallet will be opened with Zero Balance.
• Value can be topped up in R-Wallet by tendering cash across the nominated counter and also online on website “utsonmobile.indianrail.gov.in”.
• Passenger can book single Journey ticket, Platform ticket as well as season tickets by choosing appropriate option in the App.
• The Smart Phone should be GPS enabled to book single journey ticket and Platform ticket.

Functioning Of CoTVM

Cash/Smart card operated ticket vending machine (CoTVM) is a self-operated kiosk, which can be used by passengers to buy unreserved tickets through currency/coins/smart cards and to recharge smart cards. These kiosks have easy graphical interface for ticket transaction so that the user can operate these machines themselves. The kiosk accepts currency/coin of all glued/taped/coloured notes and accepts currency notes of Gandhi series. CoTVMs will reduce queue lengths at existing ticket counters by providing an alternate unmanned ticketing solution and mode of payment.

CoTVMs have the following functions

1. Issue of non-concessional second class journey tickets for non-suburban section and second/first class journey/return tickets for suburban section.
2. Issue of platform tickets.
3. Renewal of non-concessional season tickets.
4. Recharge of smart cards in denominations of Rs. 20/-, Rs. 50/-, Rs. 100/- and Rs. 500/-.

CoTVM consists of:

1. Thin Client
2. Thermal Printer
3. Touch screen
4. RFID reader
5. Cash Validator with 15 notes escrow
6. Coin Validator with 10 coins escrow
7. The cash box has the capacity to hold 25,000 notes and 3,000 coins.

The basic difference between automatic ticket vending machine (ATVM) installed upto now and CoTVM is that ATVM can issue tickets through smart cards only whereas CoTVM can issue tickets using cash (notes & coins) and smart cards. It can also be used for recharging these smart cards.

Security of CoTVM

The machine has two access doors, both at the front side of the machine and is equipped with mechanical & electronic locks. One door is used for maintenance activity by the service engineer. The second door is for accessing the cash box and is integrated with an alarm system. The alarm will go off whenever the door is opened by any unauthorized person. The machine has a cash box with electro mechanical lock at the bottom. Whenever the authorized supervisor wants to open the cash box to takeout shift cash, he/she will gain access to the machine by using a supervisory smart card and his password. After entering the password, machine will print the Daily Trains Cash-cum-Summary Book (DTC) for accountal of the collected cash.

Commissioning of CoTVM

On 01.09.2015, 6 CoTVMs were inaugurated at New Delhi of Northern Railway and 08 CoTVMs at Sealdah & Howrah stations of Eastern Railway. So far, total 48 CoTVMs have been commissioned over Northern Railway and Eastern Railway.

Train Enquiry Mobile Application on iOS platform

Centre for Railway Information System (CRIS), the IT arm of Indian Railways, has enhanced the train enquiry system by developing mobile apps. Mobile app for Windows 8 and Android were launched earlier and are widely used by rail passengers. Now one more step ahead, mobile app for iOS platform has also been developed and ready for launch. It has now become easier for the rail passengers to track information on expected arrival and departure timings of a particular train and other information.

National Train Enquiry System (NTES) is the base system which provides information to public about train running on near real time through various interfaces like nationwide unique rail enquiry number 139, website (www.trainenquiry.com), mobile interfaces, Touch Screens, Face to Face enquiry and Display Boards at stations.

One of the best features of the app is ‘spot your train’ which provides information such as its current position, expected time of arrival and departure at a particular station. Other features are ‘train schedule’, ‘train between station’, ‘live station’, ‘information on cancelled, rescheduled & diverted trains’. ‘Live Station’ query provides list of trains expected to arrive at/depart from any station in next 2 or 4 hours.
Thus, CRIS has made available train enquiry app for three most commonly used mobile platforms viz. Windows, Android and iOS.

The NTES app is available as a free download from App store.

Source: PIB News

Change in timings for booking train tickets through internet – Railway Board Orders on 18.9.2015

Change in timings for booking train tickets through internet – Railway Board Orders on 18.9.2015

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS
(RAILWAY BOARD)

No.2010/TG-I/10/ITS

New Delhi, dated 18.9.2015.

MD/CRIS
Chanakyapuri, New Delhi.

Managing Director / IRCTC,
11th Floor, Statesman House,
Barakhamba Road,
New Delhi.

(COMMERCIAL CIRCULAR NO.58 OF 2015)

Sub:- Change in timings for booking through internet.

Please refer to this office letter no. 2010/TG-I/10/P/ITS dated 22.04.2010 on the subject quoted above wherein the timings for booking of reserved tickets through internet were advised.

2. The matter been reviewed and it been decided that the facility of booking revised tickets through internet will be available from 0030 hours to 2345 hours daily w.e.f 20.09.2015.

3. Since the timings of functioning of PRS will be changed 0030 hours to 2345 hours w.e.f. 20.09.2015, the current counters at train originating stations will also be able to function from 0030 hours to 2345 hour.

4. Wide publicity should be given for information of general public by IRCTC and Zonal Railways.

(Vikrnm Singh)

Director Passenger Marketing

Railway Board

Authority : Indian Railways

Automatic Refund of Confirmed/ RAC E-Tickets on Cancellation of Trains

Automatic Refund of Confirmed/ RAC E-Tickets on Cancellation of Trains

Ministry of Railways have decided to grant automatic refund of Confirmed/RAC e-tickets on cancellation of trains similar to waitlisted e-tickets. There shall not be any requirement for cancellation/filing of TDR for refund of e-tickets in case of cancellation of trains. This will become effective very shortly.

In case of cancellation of trains, PRS counter ticket shall continue to be refunded across the reservation counter as per the existing provisions.

Source: PIB News

Tatkal booking likely to get easier – IRCTC

Tatkal booking likely to get easier – IRCTC

“Attempts are being made to simplify the extremely popular Tatkal reservation system.”

Tatkal booking is a blessing in disguise for train travelers who urgently need tickets, but the process of booking tickets on this system could be a constant source of irritation. Though plenty of reasons are attributed to it, the main grouse is the slow server connectivity and the IRCTC website’s inability to handle multiple user load.

Addressing this issue, Sandeep Dutta, the Chief Public Relation Officer of IRCTC, which is a sister concern of the Indian Railways, said, “All over the country, more than ten lakh tickets are reserved everyday, of which about 50% is booked through IRCTC.

“On the Tatkal system, between 10 AM and 12 PM, nearly 1.5 lakh tickets are booked everyday on the IRCTC website. In the beginning the website server was able to book only 7000 tickets per minute. Now, it has been raised to 14,000 e-tickets per minute.

“When users all over the country try to reserve tickets on Tatkal at the same time, the website crashes due to the overload. This has constantly been a huge challenge for IRCTC. Despite the fact that IRCTC has given a number of facilities, its reputation suffers due to this.

To tackle this problem, IRCTC decided to purchase five new world-class Singapore-based servers. These servers will be added to the main IRCTC server in another ten days. User capacity will increase from 14,000 to 24,000 per minute maximum. There will not be any website crash after that.

So, Tatkal reservation is going to become much more user-friendly.

Source: www.cgstaffnews.in