There are some important Indian railways rules which everybody must know:

General Rules

• All seats, compartments, berths are reserved by Indian Railways as per the rules and conditions published in Coaching tariffs.
• Railways reservation offices or Authorized travel agency must be contacted for a passenger who wants to reserve a berth or seat.
• For making advance bookings, the passengers must reserve the seat 60 days well in advance for any class or train. However, Advanced Reservation Period (ARP) is exclusive of the departure day of Indian trains.
• The passenger is able to book up to 6 passengers on a single reservation form in case all are traveling to same destination and same train.
• One request form is accepted at a time. 2 or 3 forms can be accepted in case of onwards/return journey for same passenger.

Indian Railway Rules

• No accommodation reservation will be made on provision basis. It can be made by purchasing the necessary journey tickets.
• Reserving a berth means the passenger can avail sleeping facility between 9PM to 6AM. However, between 6AM to 9PM, it can be used to provide the room facility got other passengers in the compartment.
• PNR number is printed in the tickets on the top left hand side. This is an important number and passengers are supposed to refer to this number for any query or complaint for reservations.
• All passengers must make sure to carry Reservation Ticket issued at the counter and pre-bought ticket during the journey. Journey cum reservation tickets are not valid which have zero amount unless the passenger is accompanied by authority to travel with such tickets.
• The allotment of accommodations is non-biased and is on first-come first serve basis. This is because of the reason that it is done by computer’s pre-defined logic.
• There is no guarantee on the reserved accommodation and the same cannot be claimed for compensation, loss or extra expense because of such accommodation including carriages. The availability of separate berth, accommodations and seat is also not guaranteed.
• The passengers can get the information about the departure time on the printed tickets. Any change in the time after the ticket has been issued will not be advised.
• The administration may publish the change on time if any. However, if a passenger misses the train, administration will not be liable for any compensation or claim.

Rules for senior citizens

There are some concessions provided to senior citizens since 1st September, 2001 through Passenger Reservation System (PRS). However, it will be granted only on demand and is not available by default. A Reservation requisition form has to be filled for demanding this concession. The senior citizens have to carry the documentary proof for age, date of birth that has been issued by any Agency/Local boy and Government Institution. Other documents can be shown such as Driving License, Educational certificate, Identity card etc.