The Hindu : National : Back to 60-day reservation

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Saturday, Jul 14, 2007
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National

Back to 60-day reservation

Sujay Mehdudia

NEW DELHI: After experimenting for nearly four months with the 90-day advance reservation, the Railways on Friday announced its decision to revert to the old system of 60 days from July 15.

Sources in the Rail Bhavan said that the new system did not evoke a very enthusiastic response and the feedback they got was that people were unable to decide their journey dates three months in advance. “There were also inputs about the system being misused by touts and middlemen, ” a senior official said.

However, another view was that the Railway Ministry introduced the system in March this year only to achieve the profit targets set in the budget. A senior official in the Rail Bhavan said that the Railways managed to generate a hundred crores after introducing this system. However, another official discounted this theory, stating that if the revenue generation was so huge then it would have been lucrative for the Railways to carry on with this system.

An official spokesman said that bookings made up to July 14 under the 90-day system would be valid.

While the cancellation of bookings made beyond the period of 60 days would be permitted, there would be no change in the limit of 360 days for advance booking for foreign tourists and 30 days for some day time express trains like Taj Express and Gomti Express, where lower time limits for advance reservation were in force.

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