All pan 120-day advance reservation booking period

The railway budget announcement that advance reservation period for long-distance tickets would be extended to 120 days from the current 60 has got an overwhelming thumbs-down from commuters, officials as well as railway activists.

While railway minister Suresh Prabhu said in his budget speech that it was a move to checkmate touts, those opposing it said the period was too long and only aimed at getting some extra revenue for the railways by way of interest for the extra 60 days as well as higher number of cancellations.

Speaking to dna, Thomas Simon, general secretary of the Western India Passenger Association said, "It was failure when it was introduced earlier and it is going to be failure this time as well. No one, be it students, office employees or even migrant labourers can plan their travel four months in advance. We have noticed that longer the advance reservation period, more the chances of cancellation. This will bring in extra revenue for the railways, but unfortunately, at the cost of commuters."

Shashi Nair, general secretary of the All-Thane Malayalee Association, a group which recently met Prabhu to give a charter of its demands, also opposed the move. "It is nice that the fares have not been increased, but taking the advance reservation period to 120 days is completely illogical and should be rolled back to 60 days," Nair said.

"If the railway minister thinks that by increasing the number of days touts can be check-mated, he is wrong. In fact, it is only touts who can plan travel four months in advance because they anyway don't need to travel on any chosen date, just need to sell the ticket in black. This announcement has ruined what was otherwise an honest budget from the government," said Bhandup resident and frequent long-distance traveller Manish Chaturvedi.