As part of Indian Railways' duty to undertake 52 reforms in 52 weeks, Union Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has proposed five significant initiatives. The modifications include construction quality, salt and vehicle transportation, boarding rules, and ticket cancellation and refunds.Passengers who cancel their tickets more than 72 hours before to departure will only be charged a flat minimum fee under the new ticketing rules. 25% of the ticket will be removed if the cancellation is made between 72 and 24 hours prior to departure. Cancellations made between 24 and 8 hours prior to departure will result in a 50% refund; cancellations made fewer than 8 hours prior will result in no refund. In addition, any railway counter in the country can now revoke counter tickets.
Additionally, boarding regulations have been lifted; instead of the previous restriction on chart preparation time, passengers can now change their boarding location up to 30 minutes prior to departure. Aadhaar-based OTP authentication, limiting reservations within the first 30 minutes to prevent abuse, implementing anti-bot solutions, deleting three crore suspect IDs, and delaying chart preparation to nine to eighteen hours prior to departure are some further measures. Up to 30 minutes prior to departure, travel class upgrades for counter tickets are also accepted.
These changes are intended to increase ticketing transparency, decrease abuse, and enhance convenience for regular travelers.
SOURCE: NEWSPOINT
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