NEW DELHI, October 21 — The Railway Board, under the Ministry of Railways, issued an official commercial circular on Tuesday reducing the Advance Reservation Period (ARP) for passenger train ticket bookings from the existing 120 days to 60 days, excluding the date of journey.
Implemented across the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) portal and computerized Passenger Reservation System (PRS) counters, the revised 60-day booking horizon applies to all fresh reservations while leaving previously booked tickets unaffected. The special 365-day advance booking window designated for foreign tourists and shorter reservation periods for select daytime intercity trains (such as Taj Express and Gomti Express) remain unchanged.
Railway Board analytics revealed that bookings made between 61 and 120 days in advance suffered from a 21% cancellation rate alongside a 5% passenger no-show rate. Shortening the ARP to 60 days curtails speculative ticket hoarding by touts, improves genuine berth availability, and enables zonal railways to deploy AI-driven demand forecasting for festival special trains.
The technological architecture of Indian Railways' Passenger Reservation System developed by CRIS (Centre for Railway Information Systems established in 1986), the corporate profile of IRCTC, and structural railway reforms recommended by the Bibek Debroy Committee are staple topics across RRB NTPC, Group D, and SSC examinations.