Connecting Journey Booking by Indian Railway
The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation has launched a feature that allows passengers to associate the PNR numbers of two consecutive journeys when train tickets have been booked for a pair of stations that may not have direct train services on a specific date.
The facility has been available on the Railway e-ticketing website and the Railway mobile application. With the option of connecting journey booking facility, passengers will be able to claim a refund if they miss the second train because of the delay in timings of the first train. According to Railway, the minimum and maximum difference of time between scheduled arrival at the destination of the main journey and scheduled departure at the boarding of connecting Journey is 1 minute and 5 days, respectively.
Connecting Journey Booking To allow linking of two PNRs for connecting journey for both eTicket and PRS counter tickets or combination of both implemented w.e.f 01-APR-2019. Process, features are following.
How to Book Connecting Journey Tickets ?
- You can access the “Connecting journey booking” option within the ✅ main Menu under “TRAINS.”
- Start by finding the train for your journey.
- Verify seat availability on the train list page.
- When you click the “Book Now” button, you’ll be prompted to input the Connecting PNR.
- Enter the eligible counter ticket or PNR associated with the same user ID for which you intend to book a Connecting Journey ticket.
- The system will validate the provided PNR and, if eligible for connecting Journey booking, automatically populate the passenger details for ticket booking.
Note:- If connecting journey is being booked against counter ticket, then OTP verification would be done before fetching passenger details.
Main Features
Key Features:
- The main journey’s terminating station must match the connecting journey’s originating or boarding station.
- PNR From station and boarding station must coincide, as well as PNR To station and reserved up to station.
- Passenger details, including names, must be identical in both PNRs, and no alterations in names, ages, or genders are permitted for connected PNRs.
- Only Confirm/Part Confirm tickets are acceptable for connecting journey ticket bookings.
- The time difference between the main journey and connecting journey should not exceed 5 days.
- You can link two PNRs, with the one for the first journey being designated as the Main Journey PNR and the subsequent one as the Connected Journey PNR.
- To link a PRS Counter ticket with an e-Ticket, the Counter Ticket must include a mobile number. In such cases, an OTP for authentication will be sent to the mobile number on the PRS Counter ticket.
- Partial cancellation of any connected PNR will result in its delinking.
- Tickets under TQ/PT/FT Quotas or current booking PNRs cannot be used for connecting journey ticket bookings.
- The time difference between the scheduled arrival at the destination of the main journey and the scheduled departure at the boarding point of the connecting journey should be at least 1 minute and a maximum of 5 days.
- Modification of the journey is not permitted for connected PNRs.
- Changing the boarding station is not allowed for connected PNRs.
- The VIKALP option is not available for connected journey tickets.
- Loyalty accrual booking for connecting journeys is not permitted.
Guidelines by Railway
For Booking Connecting Journey ticket, passenger need to input eligible PNR (Any Counter Ticket PNR or PNR Booked with same User ID) for connecting journey ticket booking. While booking of connecting Journey train tickets passengers shall ascertain and take into consideration time limit between scheduled arrival of main train and schedule departure of connecting train. Passengers should also keep into consideration margin of time in case of change of Platform on the Railway station or commuting time in case of change of station and time margin based on different circumstances like traffic congestion, availability of transport etc. Railway shall not be responsible for circumstances not within its purview.
On partial cancellation of either of the PNR, journey booking will be de-linked. If the connecting journey is being booked against the counter ticket, then OTP verification would be done before fetching passenger details. In order to link the train tickets booked from Indian Railways counter with e-tickets booked from Railway website or mobile application, a counter ticket must have a mobile number as an OTP will be sent for verification and authentication purposes.
| Sr No. | Clarification Sought | Remarks |
| 1 | If there is no delay in main train and connecting train ticket is presented for cancellation, after departure of connecting train, and within 3 hours of actual arrival of main train, should system block cancellation with message to file TDR? Currently system is allowing cancellation and giving refund to passenger as per refund rule 2015. | When there is no delay in first train that means therefore is no misconnection rule shall not be applicable. In this case subsequent tickets shall be dealt with in accordance with cancellation of tickets as per normal Refund rule 2015 |
| 2 | In PRS, mostly delay less than 3 hrs may not be updated and actual delay at destination of train also will not be updated. If delay in first train does not result in missing of connecting train, then also should system grant refund, for cancellation tried after connecting train departure? E.g In first train schedule arrival time is 01.00 hrs, due to delay, train reaches at 02.00 hrs, connecting train schedule departure is 01.30 hrs, but connecting train is also delayed and departed at 02.30 . If passenger opted for cancellation at 03.00 hrs, should system grant full refund or not? | No Basic rule should be missing of train due to late running. Hence, the conditions of late running is fulfilled however, train not missed. |
| 3 | Should system consider delay in both trains to identify refund eligible cases to avoid revenue loss? If so, then is it sufficient to refer PRS delay or should system check NTES timings also? | Same as above |
| 4. (i) | Should system grant full refund to connecting train PNR opted for cancellation up to actual train departure time of connecting train OR up to refund time limit permissible for main ticket? (i.e if main train is cancelled full refund is allowed, for main ticket which is cancelled within 3 days excluding scheduled departure da, in this case for connecting train ticket should system gives full refund only up to actual departure of connecting train OR up to 3 days excluding scheduled departure day of main train? | Till misconnection of connection train is not, arised/finalized, the refund shall be governed by normal refund rule 2015. |
| 4. (ii) | Should system impose location specific check that full refund needs to be given only, if cancellation of connecting train PNR is tried at boarding station (or satellite of boarding) of main train? | NO. Till misconnection of connecting train is not arised/finalized, the refund shall be governed by normal refund rule 2015. |
| 4. (iii) | In case of contingency, in main train, if passengers wants to cancel both tickets in web, should system allow both journeys to get cancelled? Should system impose any restriction on system tickets (main/connecting) opted for cancellation in web? | Yes, However, cancellation of such counter ticket of the connecting journey through Railway/139 may not be allowed since as per rule tickets have to be surrendered at the originating station for collecting refund amount. |
| 4. (iv) | In accounting reports and on ticket, should system reflect exact main train contingency reason (like ISL, deleted in main train/main train cancelled) or just reason as “contingency in main train”? | Contingency in main train |
| 4.(v) | It is mentioned that e-ticket and counter ticket can be linked. Should system allow linking of main ticket booked in internet, with connecting train ticket booked at counters and vice versa at counters? | Yes. In case of misconnection of connecting train, Cancellation/TDR shall be filed as per the booking of connecting train ticket (whether e-ticket/counter ticket) |
FAQs
✅ What is connecting journey?
If you’ve reserved tickets for a route where direct trains may not be accessible on a specific date, the Railway website now offers a feature to connect the PNR numbers of these two consecutive journeys.
✅ What is the benefit of connecting journey booking?
With the option of connecting journey booking facility, passengers will be able to claim a refund if they miss the second train because of the delay in timings of the first train.
✅ What is a connecting train?
A train that takes you to a station where you catch another train to the desired destination.
✅ What is connecting journey booking?
Connecting Journey Booking enables a person to link the PNR numbers of two connecting journeys in case the train tickets have been booked between a pair of stations for which direct trains might not be available on a particular date.