New rule to book unreserved tickets

Hitherto Mumbai was the only city from where one could buy an unreserved ticket for an outstation train from either of the stations in the city. However, this facility will no longer be made available in the city and instead, one will have to travel all the way to the station of origin of the train to buy a ticket.

Officials said that the order came from the Railway Board on March 1, in which it has been stated that Mumbai suburban which had given the exception since its birth will no longer have this advantage of buying unreserved tickets for journeys below 200 km.

“As Mumbai was the only place that has a suburban system where by a person could take a local train and board the outstation train at a station that is convenient for them, the city was exempted from this rule. Everywhere else in the country, the passenger has to go to the originating station and book the unreserved ticket,” said an official on condition of anonymity.

This has now been changed and Mumbaikars who stay in far off suburbs will be severely affected by this as they will have to come to Mumbai to book the ticket.

“The situation now will be that if you live in Ambernath or Kasara and want to catch the train to go to Nashik on an unreserved ticket that originates from CST, one cannot go and buy the ticket at the nearest counter. You will have to come all the way to CST and then buy the unreserved ticket,” said an official on condition of anonymity.

Although the reasoning behind this move has been unclear, officials believe that it can be another way to increase revenue, and that when the small numbers are added —wherein a passenger would be forced to travel to the station of origin — it would amount to a sizeable chunk in revenue. It is also to be noted that the Union railway minister Suresh Prabhu in this budget speech mentioned that other avenues rather than tariff hikes would be looked into.