Overview
- Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said instructions have been issued to launch the online date-change facility in January 2026, with detailed rules to be announced.
- Officials indicated the feature will apply to IRCTC bookings and allow changes only between the same origin and destination, with clarity on class-change rules pending.
- Rescheduling will carry no extra fee, but any higher fare must be paid and confirmation for the new date will depend on seat availability.
- The reform addresses a system where cancellations can forfeit 25–50% of the fare and refunds are generally not issued after chart preparation.
- The rollout aligns with recent Aadhaar authentication for the first 15 minutes of general reservations and follows CCEA approval of multi-tracking projects worth about Rs 24,634 crore to ease congestion.