Hurry up, those with unreserved tickets

Visakhapatnam: Those travelling on an unreserved ticket should catch a train within three hours of issuance of the ticket. This is a new rule that has been enforced from March 1. The ministry of railways has said in a circular that passengers travelling unreserved for distances up to 199 km should leave the station of origin within three hours of the issue of tickets or in time for the departure of the first train for the destination, whichever was later.

The return journey facility on an unreserved ticket for a distance up to 199 km has been withdrawn. There is no scope for cancellation unlike earlier when the fare was refundable after deduction of the reservation charge. The new rule comes into force after it was learnt that the same ticket was being used repeatedly by the same  person or being exchanged with others. Sometimes, passengers were found selling the ticket at a minimal cost after their journey as most of the times, the TTE at the exit gate did not check the tickets.

ECoR Chief Public Relations Officer J.P. Mishra said that the new rule would help the railways curb the misuse of tickets, thereby checking the leakage in the revenue system. But commuters said that the new rule would lead to long queues as everybody would try to buy a ticket at the last minute, keeping the  three-hour restriction in mind. Waltair division sold an average of 76,000 unreserved tickets per day over the last 11 months of the 2015-16 fiscal.

If the distance of the major stations in Waltair division from Visakhapatnam is considered, most of them would attract the new rule. According to the commercial wing of the Waltair division, the rules would be strictly implemented from April as the official circular is yet to be received from the headquarters.