Measure to prevent misuse of Train Reservation tickets

            In a major initiative to further facilitate the travel of bonafide and legitimate passengers and to reduce the scope for misuse of reserved ticketing system by unscrupulous elements/middlemen, the Ministry of Railways has decided to extend the condition of carrying original proof of identity during  train travel on reserved tickets issued through Passenger Reservation System (PRS) for all reserved classes including ‘Reserved Second Class (2S)’, ‘Sleeper Class (SL)’, ‘III Economy Class (3E)’ and ‘First Class (FC)’.  This change in policy will come into effect from   1^st December 2012. 

            Further, the Ministry of Railways has also decided to expand the list of prescribed proofs of identity to include photo identity cards having serial numbers issued by public sector undertakings of State/Central Government, District Administrations, Municipal Administrations and Panchayat Administrations.

The expanded list of the prescribed proofs of identity for undertaking journey on Tatkal ticket and other reserved classes will now be as follows:

1.    Voter Photo identity card issued by Election Commission of India.

2.    Passport.

3.    PAN Card issued by Income Tax Department.

4.    Driving Licence issued by RTO.

5.    Photo identity card having serial number issued by Central/State Government which include the following:

(i)                 Pension Pay Order s(PPO)

(ii)               Ration Card with photographs

(iii)             Senior Citizen cards

(iv)             Below Poverty Line (BPL) cards

(v)               ESI cards (with photograph) issued for taking treatment in ESI dispensaries.

(vi)             CGHS Cards (with photograph) issued to individual family members of Central Govt. employees.

6.    Student Identity Card with photograph issued by recognized School/College for their students.

7.    Nationalized Bank Passbook with photographs.

8.    Credit Cards issued by Banks with laminated photograph.

9.    Unique Identification Card “Aadhaar”.

10.     Photo identity cards having serial number issued by Public Sector Undertakings of State/Central Government, District Administrations, Municipal bodies and Panchayat Administrations.

     

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“Any one of the passengers booked on a PNR for undertaking journey in any reserved class on Indian Railways has to produce any one of the above mentioned prescribed proofs of identity in original during the journey failing which all the passengers booked on that ticket will be treated as travelling without ticket and charged accordingly.  The existing provision of the Tatkal scheme where the passenger is required to show the same original proof of identity as indicated on the ticket shall continue.”

It may be mentioned that presently only the following categories of passengers travelling in reserved classes have to produce original proof of identity during the journey:-

·         Passengers travelling on e-tickets.

·         Passengers travelling on Tatkal tickets.

·         Passengers undertaking journey in AC classes on the tickets issued through the computerized Passenger Reservation System (PRS) {except in III Economy -3E class}.

            With the new provision, effective  from  1^st December 2012 the condition of carrying one of the prescribed identity cards in original has now been extended additionally to other classes of travel namely - Reserved Second Class (2S), Sleeper Class(SL),  III Economy Class(3E) and First Class(FC) also.

            The above change in the policy is aimed at facilitating the travel of bonafide and genuine passengers and simultaneously to check the scope for travel on transferred tickets.  It is also considered that the proposed change shall also be useful from the security point of view.