Indian Railway Rules– If you are going to travel by train and are thinking of getting a seat under the emergency quota, then now you need to be more cautious than before. Indian Railways has made the ticket booking process related to emergency quota more strict. Now to get a seat under EQ i.e. emergency quota, you will have to send the request before the stipulated time, otherwise your application will be rejected.
The Railway Ministry has recently decided that now the reservation chart will be prepared 8 hours before the departure of the train. Keeping this in mind, the timing of booking related to EQ has also been changed.
When should the request for emergency quota be sent?
According to the new rules of Railways, if your train is between 12 midnight to 2 pm, then your request for emergency quota should reach the EQ cell of Railways by 12 noon one day before.
However, if the train is between 2 PM and 11:59 PM, the request must be sent by 4 PM a day before. This means that it is clear that now if you send a request for EQ on the day of departure of the train, it will not be accepted.
What about the day off?
If your train is on a Sunday or a public holiday, then the request for EQ should be sent not on that day but during office hours on the previous working day. This is so that the seat is allotted on time and there is no delay in preparing the chart.
Why were these rules changed?
The Railway Board receives a large number of requests for EQ from VIPs, railway officials and other departments every day. The ministry says that these seats are allotted with utmost care and discretion. But if the requests are not received on time, it creates problems during chart preparation, which causes inconvenience to common passengers and the timely departure of the train can also be affected.
The Railway Ministry has appealed to all the officials and forwarding authorities to send the request within the stipulated time and also ensure that the person for whom the quota is being sought is really in need.Emergency quota is a special arrangement of the railways, under which some seats are kept reserved for the last moment. This quota is especially for VIPs, medical cases, railway employees or other important passengers who have to travel in an emergency. But now the rules have been made strict to prevent misuse of this quota and to make the system transparent.