Will Your Train Ticket Be Cancelled If You Are Late By 10 Minutes? Railway Official Answers

Many media reports have recently claimed that the Railways has made a significant change in the allotment of seats, once a train leaves the station. It was widely reported that according to new directives, the Travelling Ticket Examiner (TTE) had the authority to allot a seat belonging to a particular passenger to someone else if they do not reach the seat within 10 minutes of the train leaving the station. Another report before this one claimed that the seat will be allotted to someone else after the train halts at two stations from the designated station where the passenger was to board. This news was circulating on social media, but many called it fake, and there was a lot of confusion and chaos. But to get to the bottom of it, News18’s Special Correspondent Sharad Pandey spoke to Yogesh Baweja, Director General (DG), PIB Rail and got to know the real story.

Yogesh Baweja said that the stories circulating were false and there is no question of allotting a seat to someone else after 10 minutes. He went on to say that the misconception regarding the 10-minute talk has grown as a result of the Hand Held Terminal, a notepad that has just been distributed to all TTEs. In the past, TTE used PAN to register a passenger’s presence on a sheet. The handheld terminal is now used to mark this attendance online. There is a requirement in this that the TTE must report your presence at your seat within 10 minutes of arriving at it. Your seat may be given to another person if you are not there for 10 minutes. According to the representative, this has no connection with the train departing from the station.

In most cases, a TTE comes to the seat after almost half an hour of the train leaving the station, so he said that a passenger will have 30 mins and an extra 10 minutes before the seat can be allotted to someone else and hence there is no need for panic.

Many media reports have recently claimed that the Railways has made a significant change in the allotment of seats, once a train leaves the station. It was widely reported that according to new directives, the Travelling Ticket Examiner (TTE) had the authority to allot a seat belonging to a particular passenger to someone else if they do not reach the seat within 10 minutes of the train leaving the station. Another report before this one claimed that the seat will be allotted to someone else after the train halts at two stations from the designated station where the passenger was to board. This news was circulating on social media, but many called it fake, and there was a lot of confusion and chaos. But to get to the bottom of it, News18’s Special Correspondent Sharad Pandey spoke to Yogesh Baweja, Director General (DG), PIB Rail and got to know the real story.

Yogesh Baweja said that the stories circulating were false and there is no question of allotting a seat to someone else after 10 minutes. He went on to say that the misconception regarding the 10-minute talk has grown as a result of the Hand Held Terminal, a notepad that has just been distributed to all TTEs. In the past, TTE used PAN to register a passenger’s presence on a sheet. The handheld terminal is now used to mark this attendance online. There is a requirement in this that the TTE must report your presence at your seat within 10 minutes of arriving at it. Your seat may be given to another person if you are not there for 10 minutes. According to the representative, this has no connection with the train departing from the station.

In most cases, a TTE comes to the seat after almost half an hour of the train leaving the station, so he said that a passenger will have 30 mins and an extra 10 minutes before the seat can be allotted to someone else and hence there is no need for panic.