The Railway Ministry has issued a new guideline for submitting emergency quota applications. According to this circular issued by the ministry, passengers applying for emergency quota (EQ) seats will now have to submit the application one day before their journey date.

For some time now, the Railway Department has made several changes in the rules related to ticket booking to simplify the process of ticket booking (Railway Ticket Booking Rules) and for the convenience of all passengers. Now once again the Railway has changed the rules, but this time the change has been made for Emergency Quota (EQ). This change has been made to improve the operation and to overcome the problems that arise at the last moment.

What has changed regarding emergency quota?

The Railway Ministry has issued a new guideline for submitting emergency quota applications. According to this circular issued by the ministry, passengers applying for emergency quota (EQ) seats will now have to submit their applications one day before their journey date. This new rule has been implemented on rail services across the country.

What is emergency quota?

Emergency quota is reserved by the railways for some people who travel in emergency. Earlier, applications for booking emergency quota could be made on the day of travel, but now due to change in rules, booking has to be done one day before.

Who will benefit?

At the time of allotment of seats, emergency quota for self travel of senior government officials or MPs etc. is first allocated, as per their inter-se seniority in the order of preference. After this, senior citizens, medical emergency, job interview and other reasons are considered.

New rule of emergency quota

1. The circular said that emergency quota application for all trains running between 12:00 AM and 1:00 PM must be submitted by 1:00 PM one day prior to the journey. 
2. For all other trains running between 1:01 PM and 11:59 PM, emergency quota application must be submitted by 1:00 PM on the day prior to the journey. 
3. For trains running on Sundays or public holidays, application for emergency quota has to be submitted on the working day only.  

Railways have changed these rules too 

• Indian Railways has introduced a rule to prepare the chart 8 hours before the train departure. Till now this chart was prepared only 4 hours before. This will give passengers a chance to book an alternative ticket if their ticket is not confirmed. 
• Aadhaar has been made mandatory for Tatkal tickets. Users without Aadhaar verification will not be able to book Tatkal tickets. Apart from this, OTP linked to Aadhaar number is also mandatory for online Tatkal booking from July 15. 
• If you have a waiting ticket, you will no longer be allowed to travel in sleeper and AC coaches. This means that traveling will become more convenient.
  
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