Railway ministry reduces ‘tatkal’ bookings period to 24 hours
Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi on Friday announced the decision to reduce the `tatkal' scheme's reservation period from current 48 hours to 24 hours.
Mr. Trivedi said the `tatkal' scheme's reservation period was reduced to fight off its misuse. He added that there no refund would be made on confirmed tatkal tickets.
The new rule will take effect within next ten days.
Mr. Trivedi also hinted the railway ministry's plans to introduce a variable fuel adjustment component for adjusting train fares with the rise in fuel prices. The variable fuel adjustment component, which will help the railway to better tackle financial crisis, could be introduced next year.
Speaking on the topic, he said, "Over 30 per cent of the ticket price is the cost of fuel used to run the trains. By including a variable fuel adjustment component, I may free the Railways of this burden forever."
The Ministry of Railways also has introduced a total of 26 new trains, including Pune-Secunderabad Shatabdi Express, Indore-Kota Intercity Express, and Guwahati-Dimapur Express. The new trains will become operational within a week.
