Railways has eliminated the hassle of 400 waiting tickets; now only this many people will get tickets, increasing the tension of brokers Railways imposes strict limit of 30% on booking of waiting tickets, heavy fine will be imposed if the rule is broken

A very big and policy news has come out for crores of railway passengers traveling by Indian Railways. Often, during festivals, summer holidays or wedding seasons, getting confirmed tickets in trains becomes like a tough task. In such a situation, most people book waiting tickets in the hope that perhaps their seat will be confirmed by the time the chart is prepared. But sometimes this waiting list goes beyond 300 to 400, due to which passengers have to face a lot of trouble. To root out this chaos, the Railway Board has taken a historic decision. Now the hassle of long waiting lists in trains is being completely eliminated.

Under the new technical reforms, a fixed limit (capping) has now been imposed on the booking of waiting tickets. After this, the railway booking software will automatically block further ticket booking. While this decision will curb the unlimited crowding inside trains, the journey of passengers with confirmed tickets will also become safer and more comfortable than before.

Why did the Railways have to take this tough decision?

The main objective of Railways behind this new system is to make the journey of passengers traveling in sleeper and AC coaches pleasant. For some time now, many such videos and complaints were continuously appearing on social media, in which it was seen that due to huge crowd, even passengers with confirmed tickets were not able to reach their seats. People were forced to travel by sitting in the galleries, doors and even near the toilets of the trains.

The biggest reason for this chaos was that there was no fixed limit for booking waiting tickets in the Railways. Brokers and common people used to book waiting tickets indefinitely and later boarded sleeper and AC coaches on the pretext of getting them confirmed or even without confirmation. According to railway data, only 20 to 25 percent of waiting tickets actually get confirmed by the time the chart is prepared. This simply means that the remaining 75 to 80 percent passengers either canceled their journey or increased the troubles of other passengers by forcibly entering the reserved coaches with the help of waiting tickets. To stop this, the new rule is going to be fully effective from June 2026 onwards.

What is the new mathematics of waiting list? (At a Glance)

According to senior officials of the Railway Board, earlier there was a fixed capping of up to 400 tickets in sleeper coaches, now it has been completely changed. Now there will be no unlimited waiting list in long distance or any train, rather it has been reduced to a maximum of 30 percent of the total capacity of that coach.

This can be understood in simple words like this:

As soon as the number of waiting tickets reaches 30 per cent, passengers will see the message ‘No Room’ on the screen and they will not be able to book further tickets. This rule will apply equally to all classes including sleeper as well as third AC, second AC and first AC.

Middle path: Passengers’ convenience also taken care of

Some time back, Railways had tried to impose a very strict rule of only 25 per cent waiting tickets in all classes, which had created huge chaos at the booking counters. Then, in view of the inconvenience to the passengers, the board withdrew that decision. But this time, the Railways has found a middle path and set a practical limit of 30 percent, which is technically completely capable of controlling the crowd.

TTE received strict instructions:

Under the new provisions, now no passenger will be allowed to travel in a sleeper or AC coach if he has a waiting ticket. If any passenger is found breaking this rule or traveling in a reserved coach without a confirmed ticket, TTE will impose a heavy fine on him and he will be deboarded from the train at the very next station.

Dealing blow to brokers’ syndicate and record special trains

This new step of Railways will completely destroy the network of brokers doing black marketing of tickets. Till now, brokers used to book waiting tickets in large numbers in advance and later used to charge huge amount from the needy passengers in the name of getting them confirmed. When the software itself will block booking after a limit, such hoarding of tickets will be completely stopped.

Apart from this, Railways is not only changing the rules to meet the increasing demand of passengers, but is also increasing the number of special trains to a record level. This time, in view of the huge rush of passengers in the summer season, Railways has broken the highest record so far. 908 special trains Have driven, which is about 47 percent more than last year. This will significantly increase the chances of passengers getting a confirmed seat.