Fact-Check: Viral message claiming 10 railway rules will change from July 1 is misleading
Vishvas News in its investigation found that the claim of Indian Railways changing rules from July 1 is misleading. This claim has been circulating for several years, and there have been no changes in the refund policy for Tatkal confirmed tickets and Suvidha trains. The railway ministry has also termed this claim fake.
- By: Ashish Maharishi
- Published: Jun 7, 2023 at 03:55 PM
New Delhi (Vishvas News): A message regarding Indian Railways is going viral on social media, claiming that 10 railway rules will be changed from July 1. The viral message stated that the Indian Railways will do away with the waiting list and 50 per cent of the ticket price will be refunded upon cancellation of Taktkal train ticket.
Vishvas News conducted an investigation and found the viral claim to be misleading. Some of the claims in the viral message are fake, while others are already in effect. For instance, there is no refund for the cancellation of confirmed tickets for any Tatkal train and waiting list tickets are still being issued. Tatkal ticket booking for AC classes begins at 10 am and for non-AC classes at 11 am, a rule that has been in place since 2015.
Claim:
The viral post in question was forwarded to Vishvas News’ WhatsApp tipline number by a user. It was originally posted by the Facebook user ‘Atpi and Rahul blogs‘ (archive link) on June 4. The viral message reads,
“RAILWAY INFORMATION”
From July 1st, 2023 these 10 rules of railways changed….
1) The hassle of the waiting list will end. Passengers will be given the facility of confirmed tickets in Suvidha trains run by the Railways.
2) From July 1, 50 per cent of the amount will be refunded on cancellation of Tatkal tickets.
3) There has been a change in the rules of Tatkal tickets from July 1. Ticket booking will be done for the AC coach from 10 am to 11 am while the Sleeper coach will be booked from 11 am to 12 pm.
4) Paperless ticketing facility is being started in Rajdhani and Shatabdi trains from July 1. After this facility, paper tickets will not be available in Shatabdi and Rajdhani trains, instead, the ticket will be sent on your mobile.
5) Soon railway ticketing facility is going to start in different languages. Till now, tickets are available in Hindi and English, but after the new website, now tickets can be booked in different languages.
6) There is always a fight for tickets on the railways. In such a situation, from July 1, the number of coaches in Shatabdi and Rajdhani trains will be increased.
7) An alternate train adjustment system, Suvidha Train and Duplicate Train running of important trains are planned to provide better train comfort during rush hours.
8) The Ministry of Railways will run Suvidha trains on the lines of Rajdhani, Shatabdi, Duronto and Mail-Express trains from July 1.
9) Railway is going to completely stop premium trains from 1st July.
10) 50% of the fare will be refunded on refund of tickets to Suvidha trains. Apart from this, Rs.100/- will be deducted on AC-2, Rs.90/- on AC-3, and Rs.60/- per passenger on Sleeper.
Issued in the public interest
sleep carelessly in the train, the railway will wake up on arrival at the destination station….
You will have to activate the Wakeup Call-Destination Alert facility on your PNR by calling 139.
Railway has started a wake-up call-destination alert facility for the passengers travelling in the train at night before reaching the destination station.
What is Destination Alert
This feature is named Destination Alert.
On activation of the facility, the alarm will sound on the mobile even before the destination station arrives.
To activate the feature
After typing alert
PNR Number has to be typed
And send it to 139.
139 have to call.
After making the call, select the language and then dial 7.
After dialling 7, the PNR number has to be dialled. After that, this service will be activated
This feature is named Wake-up Call.
The mobile bell will ring till it is received
On activating this service, the mobile bell will ring before the arrival of the station. This bell will keep ringing until you receive the phone. On receipt of the phone, the passenger will be informed that the station is about to arrive.
Please send this message to everyone.”
Investigation:
During the investigation, a search on Google revealed that similar posts have gone viral multiple times in the past. The same post can also be found on Facebook from June 2016 (archived link) and March 2017 (archived link), indicating that this claim has been circulating for about seven years already.
Further searching led to a news item published on NDTV ‘s website on June 24, 2016, which quoted Indian Railways as saying that there were no changes in the booking and cancellation rules for the waiting list and Tatkal tickets from July 1 as claimed on social media platforms. The message was declared false and baseless by the Indian Railways.
Additionally, a press note from the Ministry of Railways issued on June 30, 2017, addressed each claim made in the viral message and clarified that the news was completely wrong and baseless.
– The press note confirmed that waitlisted tickets are sold both online and through PRS counters, and there have been no changes in the refund rules for Tatkal tickets.
– Railways has been running Suvidha class trains since July 2015 and such trains will continue to run. Waiting list tickets are also available on such trains if required. Provision for a partial refund in case of Suvidha train tickets is available since the inception of the scheme. There is no new change in this regard.
– Railways notified new refund rules in November 2015. These rules are still in force and have not been changed since. There has also been no change in the refund rules for Tatkal tickets. No refund is given on cancellation of a confirmed Tatkal ticket/duplicate Tatkal ticket as per the existing rule.
– There is no proposal to discontinue paper tickets for Shatabdi and Rajdhani trains and for that matter in any class of train. However, for passengers booking tickets online (i.e. e-tickets), the SMS is valid proof along with an identity card.
– The booking timings for Tatkal tickets were changed in 2015 to 10:00 am for AC class and 11:00 am for non-AC class. There has been no change in these timings and the same arrangement continues.
– Railways is already running its destination alert facility on its helpline number 139. Apart from this, a free alert service for train arrival at the destination between 6 am to 11 am was also started on a pilot basis in some Rajdhani and Shatabdi trains. This is also already available. There has been no change in this feature either.
– There is no proposal to print tickets (both e-tickets and PRS tickets) in regional languages.
– There is no proposal to run duplicate trains. We also run special trains on identified popular routes as per the traffic requirements to decongest the peak season.
– Railways launched the ‘Vikalp’ Alternate Train Accommodation Scheme (ATAS) on November 1, 2015. Its purpose is to provide confirmed seats to waitlisted passengers. The facility was initially introduced on New Delhi-Jammu, New Delhi-Lucknow, Delhi-Howrah, Delhi-Chennai, Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Secunderabad circuits. On March 22, 2017, the scheme was expanded to all areas.
When we searched with keywords for the refund policy of Suvidha Train, we found information related to it on the IRCTC website. In the report published on March 16, 2020, it is written that Indian Railways started Suvidha Express in 2014. Reservation can be made a maximum of 120 days in advance. No concession is available on these trains. Under the refund policy, 50 per cent of the fare on these trains will be refunded. A minimum cancellation charge of Rs 100 will be charged from AC 2/First class passengers, Rs 90 from AC 3/AC chair car passengers and Rs 60 for confirmed or RAC sleeper class tickets.
The refund policy for Tatkal tickets can also be seen on the IRCTC Help website. It is written that no refund is available on Tatkal confirmed tickets.
Amit Malviya, Senior PRO of North Central Railway, was contacted for more information, and he confirmed that no such notification had been issued by the Indian Railways. He stated that some rules are already in place and no changes have been made so far.
Vishvas News has debunked this claim earlier as well. The fact-check report can be accessed here.
In the final phase of the investigation, we scanned the profile of the Facebook user ‘Atpi & Rahul Blogs‘ who shared the fake message. This page was created on October 13, 2022, and has 644 followers.
Conclusion: Vishvas News in its investigation found that the claim of Indian Railways changing rules from July 1 is misleading. This claim has been circulating for several years, and there have been no changes in the refund policy for Tatkal confirmed tickets and Suvidha trains. The railway ministry has also termed this claim fake.
- Claim Review : 10 railway rules will change from July 1
- Claimed By : Fb user: Atapi & Rahul Vlogs
- Fact Check : False
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