http://in.news.yahoo.com/070702/48/6hmpd.html

Tuesday July 3, 02:37 AM

Three months after deciding to increase the advance reservation
period (ARP) from 60 to 90 days, Indian Railways has decided to
revert back to the original 60 days time limit.

The move, innocent as it may seem, is driven by the fact that the
ministry has already derived the benefit it intended to by
introducing it in the first place. By increasing the ARP from 60 to
90 days from March 1 this year, Railways managed to earn a few
hundred crores through advance reservations in the month of March
itself and was able to show the earnings on its balance-sheet ending
March 31.

Simply put, by increasing the ARP by another 30 days, Railways, which
was struggling to achieve Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav's
declared target of Rs 20,000 crore as surplus, managed to rake in
advance money for journeys which actually took place outside the 2006-
07 fiscal. Rail Bhawan sources said the ministry roughly earns around
Rs 450-500 crore per month through advance reservations.

This implies that by adding a month to the existing two-month ARP,
Railways actually managed to earn Rs 450-500 crore before the current
fiscal began. Under the latest instructions issued, passengers would
again be able to reserve their tickets only 60 days in advance from
July 15 onwards.

However, all bookings made up to July 14 under the Advance
Reservation Period of 90 days would remain intact. Also,
cancellations of the bookings made beyond the ARP of 60 days would be
permitted. Meanwhile, there will be no change in the case of certain
day time express trains like Taj Express and Gomti Express where
lower ARP time limits are currently in force.

The 360-day ARP limit for foreign tourists will also remain unchanged.