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| - Fact Check: Old social media post on new train rules takes netizens for a ride again
A false claim of the Indian Railways introducing 10 new rules from July 1 for the benefit of travellers, is doing the rounds on social media.
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India Today Fact Check
No such rules will come into effect from July 1. The message has been circulating on social media since 2015. The Railways has clarified it multiple times that the claim is baseless.
With several states easing Covid restrictions, many of us might be finalising that elusive travel plan. And if some social media users are to be believed, the Indian Railways is introducing 10 new rules from July 1 for the benefit of travellers.
These include confirmed tickets in Suvidha Express, staggered timings for tatkal bookings, paperless ticketing facility for Rajdhani and Shatabdi trains and tickets in languages other than Hindi and English, to name a few.
Some users have posted the link to a blog article supporting the viral claim.
However, India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) has found the viral claim to be misleading. No such rules will come into effect from July 1. The message has been circulating on social media since 2015 and the Railways has clarified multiple times that it is baseless.
What AFWA found
Searching the Internet with the help of keywords, we traced the message back to 2015. Some news websites had also carried the information.
In 2017, the Ministry of Railways issued a detailed clarification on the viral message. “This news is totally incorrect and baseless. A section of media has also published this news without verifying it from the authorised sources of the Indian Railways. This has created a lot of confusion in the minds of rail users,” it said.
The press release said that Railways has been selling waitlisted tickets through both online (e-ticket) and PRS counters. There has been no change in this scheme since. “However more trains are being planned as per the increase in passenger demand. This is expected to reduce the waiting list significantly,” an Indian Railways official told AFWA.
The Railways has also been running Suvidha Express trains since July 2015. Waitlisted tickets in these trains are also available, if required. Provision of partial refund in Suvidha tickets was available right from the beginning of the scheme. There have been no changes in this regard too.
The Railways had notified new refund rules in November 2015. These rules still continue.
Further, there is no proposal to discontinue paper tickets for Shatabdi and Rajdhani trains, or for that matter any train, the Railways had clarified in the press statement. However, for passengers booking their seats online, the ticket received on email or SMS is a valid document, but has to be accompanied by an ID proof.
Staggered timings for tatkal tickets were notified in 2015 as well.
The Railways has for long been running its destination alert facility on its helpline number 139. And there is no proposal for printing the tickets (both e-tickets and PRS ones) in regional languages, the Railways said in the release.
Last year too, messages went viral claiming that Railways would change its protocols post the Covid-19 lockdown. The Indian Railways had then clarified that it was speculative and incorrect information.
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