“The trial run of finalising the chart 24 hours before the departure time began on June 6 in the Bikaner division and has been implemented on one train to begin with,” an official said, adding, “Initial results over the past few days have been positive.”

Officials said that after the trails in Bikaner division are complete, the Railways may expand the trial to other regions, particularly on routes that frequently experience long waiting lists.

“The idea was first proposed during the prime minister and the railway minister’s visit to Bikaner on May 21, when local officials proposed and demonstrated the benefits of early chart preparation. Decision to conduct trials of the system was quickly approved thereafter,” a second official said.

“Among the main advantages for passengers are more time to arrange alternate travel if their tickets remain unconfirmed and better planning for the Railways, which can add extra coaches or adjust services based on updated passenger data,” he added.

Officials, however, clarified that the new system will not affect existing rules for Tatkal or other types of tickets. “The Tatkal processes will remain unchanged,” he said.

“Currently, waiting lists of many trains reach up to 400 passengers, leading to a high number of unconfirmed bookings. With the chart ready a day in advance, the Railways can consider deploying clone trains (operated when a regularly scheduled train has a significant number of passengers on its waitlist) or other measures to accommodate demand,” the official said.

A third official said that they expect the move of preparing the chart a day before departure, to help address last-minute cancellations, which are believed to affect about 21% of bookings and account for around five percent of passengers who don’t travel despite having confirmed tickets.