Can I change trains between stations using a general ticket?

Can I Change Trains Between Stations Using A General Ticket?

Even though millions of people travel by train, there are many Indian railway rules which passengers are unfamiliar with. At Railmitra, it is our constant endeavor to bring forth information that would help solve your travel worries. 

Break journey and through journey tickets can save a valuable amount of fare if your journey involves stopovers or changes en-route. Such tickets cannot be booked online, and are subject to specific terms and conditions; however, you will have to go to a reservation office.

Why Book A Through Ticket Or Break-journey Ticket?

Let's look at how a through ticket can help a passenger to change the Train Between Stations.

Assume that you have to travel between Chennai and Karwar. There is no direct train and train connections are:

(a) Chennai-Mangalore Express (#12685) leaves Chennai at 5 pm, reach Mangalore the next morning at 8.30 am (889 km)

(b) Yesvantpur-Karwar Express (#16523) leaves Mangalore at 9 am, reach Karwar at 2 pm (354 km)

Let's also assume to travel in Second AC Sleeper (2A).

If you buy separate tickets for each train, you would pay:

INR 1,510 for the Chennai - Mangalore ticket

INR 750 for the Mangalore - Karwar ticket

Total is INR 2,260 for the Chennai-Karwar journey, which is expensive for a 1,243 km journey.  

For example, a 100 km journey by Second AC Sleeper costs INR 665 (INR 6.5 per km), and a 3,000 km journey in the same class costs INR 3,065 (INR 1.02 per km). By accessing Train Route Information of Chennai – Karwar, the journey is a reasonably long followed by a short journey, making it expensive.

Now, It's possible to buy a through ticket for the entire journey. This means you can pay the fare from Chennai to Karwar, with your ticket mentioning that there is a change in the Train Between Stations at Mangalore. The total distance is 1,243 km and the Second AC fare for this is INR 1,845. With a through ticket, you save INR 415 i.e saving 18% over buying two separate tickets.

Recommendation: Why Should Check Time Table Of Train?

Break-journey tickets

If a journey ticket is for a long distance, the Indian railways allow you to "break journey" enroute that is, stop at an enroute station i.e Train Between Stations.

• These tickets can only be booked at a counter, not online. 

• It can be issued for routes where no direct train exists as well as routes where direct services exist like Rajdhani

• Choosing an excessively circuitous route is prohibited. The rule says your route cannot be more than 15% longer than a reasonably direct route.  

• Booking a through ticket on trains like the Shatabdi, Rajdhani, Garib Rath, Duronto and Jan Shatabdi Expresses is not permissible.

• It is possible to book a through ticket for a journey in different classes on different trains of the journey, but you will have to pay the fare for the higher class for the entire route.

What Are The Rules Governing Through Tickets?  

Here are Indian Railways rules for break journey tickets you should know before planning your travel:

• They cannot be issued for trains like Shatabdi, Rajdhani, Duronto, Garib Rath and Jan Shatabdi Expresses, which have separate all-inclusive fare structures on a point-to-point basis.

• Travel for more than 500 km is necessary to be eligible for a break of journey,

• The journey cannot break at a station less than 500 km from your origin. It’s very important to check the Train Route Information of your desired train.

• If the ticket is booked for a distance more than 500 km but less than 1,000 km, the break journey is permitted once; 

• By checking Train Route Information, if the journey exceeds 1,000 km, the passenger is allowed to break the journey twice,

• It's important to indicate that you want to break journey en-route at the time of booking your ticket

• You need to get your ticket endorsed by the station manager/ticket collector at the station at which you break your journey. If you fail to so and you will be regarded as a ticketless passenger and charged accordingly,

• Break journey is possible for a maximum of two days excluding the day you board and leave the break journey station,

• A halt of fewer than 24 hours at a station to catch a connecting train is not regarded as a break of journey.

How Do You Book A Through Ticket?  

The same procedure is followed to book a train ticket at a reservation office, with a few changes when filling up your reservation form:

1. In the yellow box: 

a. Enter the train number of the first train you want to take.   

b. Fill the date of the journey, the class and the number of seats or berths you want. 

2. In the "from" box: Enter the name of the station of origin or the code.

3. In the "to" box: Write the final destination station name or code. 

4. In the "boarding at" box: Again, Write the name of your origin station name. 

5. In the "reservation upto" box: Enter the destination station name by your first train. For example, enter "Mangalore". 

Fill in the passenger details column as usual.  

6. In the "Onward/Return Journey Details" box: Fill in the details of your second train.

7. In the "station from" and "station to" columns: Enter the stations between which you're traveling in your second train like "Mangalore" and "Karwar".  

You can also leave this field blank, which gives you an open ticket for the second trains, allowing you to travel by Second AC Sleeper on any Train Between Stations, subject to availability of seats.

Submit this form to the clerk, informing him/her about the request for a through ticket.  

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