ID card must for all classes of reserved train tickets

Ahmedabad, 30 November 2012

In a major initiative to further facilitate the travel of bonafide and legitimate passengers and to reduce the scope for misuse of reserved ticketing system by unscrupulous elements/middlemen, the Ministry of Railways has decided to extend the condition of carrying original proof of identity during travel on reserved tickets issued through Passenger Reservation System (PRS) for all reserved classes including ‘Sleeper Class (SL)’,‘Reserved Second Class (2S)’, ‘III Economy Class (3E)’ and ‘First Class (FC)’ from Saturday, 1st December 2012.

The list of prescribed proofs of identity for undertaking journey on Tatkal ticket and other reserved classes has been expanded as under:

1. Voter Photo identity card issued by Election Commission of India.

2. Passport.

3. PAN Card issued by Income Tax Department.

4. Driving License issued by RTO.

5. Photo identity card having serial number issued by Central/State Government which include the following:

(i) Pension Pay Order s(PPO)

(ii) Ration Card with photographs

(iii) Senior Citizen cards

(iv) Below Poverty Line (BPL) cards

(v) ESI cards (with photograph) issued for taking treatment in ESI dispensaries.

(vi) CGHS Cards (with photograph) issued to individual family members of Central Govt. employees.

6. Student Identity Card with photograph issued by recognized School/College for their students.

7. Nationalized Bank Passbook with photographs.

8. Credit Cards issued by Banks with laminated photograph.

9. Unique Identification Card “Aadhaar”.

10. Photo identity cards having serial number issued by Public Sector Undertakings of State/Central Government, District Administrations, Municipal bodies and Panchayat Administrations.

Under the new policy, from 1st December, 2012, any one of the passengers booked on a PNR for undertaking journey in any reserved class has to produce any one of the above mentioned prescribed proofs of identity in original during the journey, failing which all the passengers booked on that ticket will be treated as travelling without ticket and charged accordingly.

At present, passengers traveling on a reserved ticket, issued through Passenger Reservation System for undertaking journey in any air conditioned (AC) class have to carry any one of the prescribed photo identity card with them during their journey.

The above change in the policy is aimed at facilitating the travel of bonafide and genuine passengers and simultaneously to check the scope for travel on transferred tickets. It is also considered that the proposed change shall also be useful from the security point of view.