Indian Railways has introduce a easy new option that lets passengers book tickets for Vande Bharat Express trains up to 15 minutes before departure from their chosen boarding station.
This new feature is useful for travellers making last-minute travel plans.
This new, last-minute booking window is now available on select Vande Bharat routes under the Southern Railway zone, which includes key destinations in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh.
The rollout of this feature can expand further based on the response to the service.
The Southern Railway (SR) zone has rolled out a new facility enabling passengers to book Vande Bharat Express train tickets up to 15 minutes before departure.
Great news for #VandeBharat travellers!📢
— Southern Railway (@GMSRailway) July 20, 2025
You can now book tickets up to 15 minutes before the train reaches your station🚄#SouthernRailway introduces this feature to boost seat utilisation & passenger convenience.
✅Select Vande Bharat trains
✅Subject to seat availability pic.twitter.com/HMzmSbbcms
This has made possible via recent updates to Indian Railways’ Passenger Reservation System (PRS).
This real-time booking feature is currently enable for eight trains.
As of now, reservations close once the train left its originating station, leaving empty seats unuse and limiting access for passengers at later stops.
How to Book Vande Bharat Train Tickets Just 15 Minutes Before Departure?
Follow These Steps :
- Visit the IRCTC website or use the IRCTC Rail Connect mobile app or click HERE.
- Log in with your IRCTC credentials or sign up for a new account.
- Enter your trip details, including boarding station, destination, and travel date.
- Choose Vande Bharat Express from the options.
- View live seat availability.
- Select your preferred class, Executive or Chair Car, and confirm the boarding point.
- Pay online.
- Your ticket will be sent via SMS, email, and WhatsApp.
The railway has implement changes in the PRS for the following 8 Vande Bharat Express trains:
- 20631 Mangaluru Central – Thiruvananthapuram Central
- 20632 Thiruvananthapuram Central – Mangaluru Central
- 20627 Chennai Egmore – Nagercoil
- 20628 Nagercoil – Chennai Egmore
- 20642 Coimbatore – Bengaluru Cantonment
- 20646 Mangaluru Central – Madgaon
- 20671 Madurai – Bengaluru Cantonment
- 20677 Dr MGR Chennai Central – Vijayawada
As of now, passengers would be unable to book tickets on Vande Bharat trains once the train left its starting point, preventing passengers at later stops from reserving available seats.
This often result in empty seats going unuse while travellers from smaller towns couldn’t board these trains.
But this new update is expect to give more convenience for users and improve seat utilisation.
Indian Railways is expect to offer a broader rollout of the service, based on travellers’ response to the expand ticket booking capability that is available in select regions.
