Railway Reservation Form Introduction-1

Go through the Snapshot of the above Model Railway Reservation Form

All the Passengers, must carefully go through the Revised Reservation form that is printed in the prescribed and standard format before filling the same, from top to bottom and clear all their doubts regarding each item of the data asked for to be filled in by them. If they go through such form clearly, THREE Yes/No type questions are asked before filling up reservation request details.

Question(1) Are you a doctor? (if yes you could be helpful in case of emergency) Yes/No.
~~~> If any Doctor fills Yes in this option, it is understood that he/she accepts an obligation to help anybody (mostly the co-passengers) in case of medical emergency during their course of travel in that train. A special symbol is indicated against their name in the Reservation chart, that helps the checking staff to identify such doctor on board in case of emergency.

Question(2) Do You want Sr.Citizen concession, write Yes or No in the box. (If Yes, please carry a proof age during the journey, to avoid penal charging as per the extent Railway rules)
~~~> This option is a must to be filled in and a must to be noted by everyone. Any person who completes the age of 60 years is a senior citizen. Some people mistake completion of 59 years, entitles them for this concession with a plea that they 59+ or 60 running. This is a very very WRONG NOTION. For every government provision the specified age must be completed.
~~~> See these examples:
(a) A new born baby cannot be called as 1st year running, we call months baby only.
(b) In the same way, a person who completes 18 years of age is only eligible to vote, not a person who completes 17, and says that he/she is 18 running.
(c) Employees retire on completion of 58 years / 60 years as per the organizational norms, but not before. (If they do so before completion of the specified age thats not called as natural retirement, but voluntary retirement)
Please forget the phrase of :"Running Age" and Always consider: "Completed Years of Age" as your current age.
~~~> For those who can carry a proof of age during their journey, this option can be marked "Yes". For those who cannot carry during their journey, this option must invariably marked "No".
~~~> Concession will be granted @ 30% for male passengers and @ 50% for female passengers.
~~~> Some recently got confused that women passengers who attained 50 years are eligible for this concession, which is absolutely wrong.
~~~> Any identity that proves the age of passenger can be considered in this context, preferably ELECTION CARD, SSC/SSLC/MATRIC XEROX COPY, PAN CARD, PASSPORT, DRIVING LICENSE, CERTIFICATE ISSUED BY THE LOCAL GOVERNING BODY, PANCAHAYAT etc.
~~~> If a person is found misusing this concession, such persons are treated as without ticket and dealt as per the extent Railway rules.
~~~> For GENTS who avail this concession, the code words "SRCTZN" and For WOMEN who avail this concession, the code words "SRCTNW" is indicated against their sex and age in the Journey ticket.
~~~> For those who do not avail this, the code "NOCONC" is indicated against their sex and age in their ticket.

Question(3)Do you want your ticket to be upgraded to a higher class without any extra charge? Yes/No
~~~> This question has never been read or gone through by most of the passengers requesting reservation. Because, any person who first time reads this question, naturally gets a doubt, inquires about it and gets it clarified in a proper way. But that very rarely happens for the most of the time at any reservation counter.
~~~>This is a new Question Related to a New Scheme of Automatic Upgrading of the passengers to a higher class, introduced in the recent past. This happens automatically, by system and no manual intervention is possible in this scheme.
~~~>This is introduced with an objective of optimal utilization of the available accommodation in the train.
~~~>This will be done in a situation, when upper class berths fall vacant and waiting list is prevailing in Lower class. Confirmed full fare paying passengers will be upgraded to the next higher class and subsequently the waiting list / RAC will be cleared to the possible extent in the lower class.
~~~> If this field is left blank, without saying Yes or No, it is by default taken for granted as "Yes". This troubles certain passengers who have physical limitations to their abilities.
~~~> For those whose physical abilities limit or compel them to travel in the non-AC classes due age or allergies to cold environments etc, it is recommended to opt "No".
~~~> If all passengers in the confirmed status opt "No", then the passengers with RAC/ wait listed status will be upgraded to higher class irrespective of the option opted by them. This situation rarely happens.
~~~> All the passengers in a PNR totally are upgraded or none upgraded. No partial Upgrading of tickets is done at any case.
~~~> The Upgraded passenger need not pay any additional amount for the travel by the higher class. No difference of fare is collected from him/her. We can treat this scheme as a Lucky dip lottery scheme, where your journey ticket itself is a Lottery ticket.

Responsibilities of Unreserved Railway Passengers-1

Many think it is the responsibility of the Railway Authorities to Guide properly. But people seldom care, as Passengers they too have some responsibilities to perform. They only feel and think of rights in the concept of purchasing a Railway service. We shall discuss some points of significance here:

The following are for Unreserved Passengers:

1. Passengers must turn up to the railway station in time, well before to purchase the tickets and board their train before it departs.
2. They must calculate unforeseen delays in the transit from their homes to the Railway station by road (like traffic jams, traffic signals, etc.) as well as at stations (queue for purchasing tickets, inquiring the platform number, reaching the right platform by using foot-over bridge , engaging the porter to carry heavy luggage and/or wheelchair for senior citizens, etc.) and plan the departure from their homes accordingly.
3. They are always advised to use the services of Licensed Porters only whenever required, not outsiders and unknown persons. Entrusting Luggage to strangers is not safe.
   
4. All the passengers can now purchase unreserved tickets 3 days in advance, to avoid last minute rush at the counters, provided starting station falls in the same zone as that of ticket issuing station. Date of commencement of journey has to be mentioned on the advance ticket. In case, the passenger wishes to board the train on a date other than the one mentioned on the advance ticket, a fresh ticket is required to be purchased, canceling the old ticket. Normally unreserved tickets are canceled at the same station and same counter where it is purchased. Refund is given after deducting the cancellation charge, normally.
   
5. Unreserved Tickets can be issued FROM ANY STATION TO ANY STATION in the Indian Railways.
6. They must decide first to which train they should go, and then should know what type of train it is, whether it is a normal mail/express train or superfast train or an ordinary (passenger) train. If any Express train number starts with '2', it is a superfast train. This applies to all over Indian Railways.
   
7. They must clearly ask for the station, class and number of passengers at the counter.
8. They must take a half ticket for every child who completed 5 years of age and a full ticket for every person who completed 12 years of age.
   
9. They must check the ticket and change before leaving the counter.
   
10. They must check the class of ticket purchased: IIM/E for unreserved class in Normal express trains, II SUPERFAST or II SUP or II SUPF or II SF for unreserved class in Superfast express trains, and II ORD for unreserved class in Ordinary Passenger trains.
    
11. They must always purchase tickets from authorized ticket booking counters provided by railways, no touts to be believed in this regard.
12. They must always rely upon nominated "Enquiry counters" for the want of information.
13. In case no such counters are available, must always contact authorized officials at stations such as TC or SM, but must never depend upon every Tom, Dick and Harry.
14. They must ensure that they are carrying the luggage within the free allowance of 35kgs per adult and 17.5 kg per child, while traveling in unreserved compartment. Luggage in excess of free allowance is to be booked, ("Luggage" topic shall be dealt separately in the coming posts in this blog) or else if detected, by ticket checking staff enroute or at destination is liable to be paid 6 times the normal luggage rates.
15. They must board the compartment of the concerned class of ticket for which they are originally holding the ticket; for this the unreserved passenger is required to inquire and know where the correct unreserved (general) compartment is.
16. In case they board a higher class, they are required to pay DIFFERENCE OF FARE PLUS RESERVATION CHARGE (IF ACCOMMODATION IS AVAILABLE) or DIFFERENCE OF FARE PLUS EXCESS CHARGE(IF ACCOMMODATION IS NOT AVAILABLE). The EXCESS CHARGE is subject to a minimum of Rs.250.
    
17. In case they are unable to board train due to heavy rush, they must not hang on the foot-board and risk the life. They can go by same ticket to their destination, by another train in the same route, and is of the same type as that of the ticket held (M/E, SF, ORD) before the midnight of the same date, before the date changes.
18. Every passenger needs to know that the Date changes at 12AM (Mid-Night) every day. Remember December 31st Midnight 12AM in this context, when all Welcome the New Year, and Wish one another because, the Date changes.
    
19. If there is no such train, they need to cancel the ticket and take refund. Refund will be given duely deducting the cancellation charges applicable.
20. If a train for the required destination is available, but goes via a longer route, passenger needs to pay the difference of fare. This can be done before boarding by paying and taking a receipt from station TC or TE (or SM in case of small stations) or at the IFC (Information Facilitation Counters) provided at stations or even to the Ticket Checking staff enroute. Please note that Ticket Checking staff cannot collect Excess Charge (Usually popular as 'penalty' or 'fine') in this particular case.
    
21. They must show their tickets to the ticket checking staff in trains, whenever asked for and must surrender their tickets at the destination to the Ticket Collector / Ticket Examiner.