‘Current Booking’ facility helps passengers, boosts Railway revenue

Payyannur (Kerala): The Indian Railways' current booking facility, which enables passengers to reserve tickets just minutes before a train's departure, has emerged as a major success story. While providing immense convenience to last-minute travellers, the facility has simultaneously generated millions in additional revenue for the national carrier.

According to Southern Railway data for the 2025–26 fiscal year, 7,42,000 passengers secured seats via current booking across 24 Vande Bharat train services alone. This high demand translated into a substantial revenue boost of ₹57.06 crore for the zone.

Among these, the Thiruvananthapuram–Mangaluru Vande Bharat Express (Train No. 20632) recorded an outstanding response, averaging 11,000 current booking passengers a month and yielding a monthly revenue of ₹73 lakh. Other trains across the network have mirrored this success, with the Railways registering an 80% surge in passenger footfall via current bookings compared to previous years.

Digitisation drives window expansion

The current booking facility allows passengers to reserve unallocated seats up to 15 minutes before a train departs. The system has now been successfully rolled out across most trains.

Under the updated protocol, the initial reservation chart is prepared eight hours prior to departure, while the final chart is finalised just 15 minutes before the train leaves the platform. This allows any vacant slots—including those arising from last-minute cancellations—to be made instantly available to waiting passengers.

Previously, the current booking window was restricted to a timeframe between four hours and 30 minutes before departure. This buffer was mandatory to allow railway staff sufficient time to print and distribute physical charts to ticket examiners. However, with the introduction of Handheld Terminals (HHTs) and tablets for ticket checking staff, chart data is updated digitally in real time. This technological shift has allowed the Railways to keep the booking window open until 15 minutes before departure.

Clearer status at charting stations

The system also addresses a long-standing issue faced by passengers boarding at intermediate charting stations. Previously, even if seats or berths became vacant after a train commenced its journey, passengers at subsequent major stations could rarely access them due to a lack of real-time vacancy updates. This often resulted in seats remaining empty while passengers were turned away.

With the current reservation window extended up to 15 minutes before a train departs from any major charting station along its route, passengers can now view accurate, real-time seat availability and book their tickets seamlessly before the train arrives.