Book for tomorrow to travel today

LUCKNOW: The Railway's clock has started playing tricks with its passengers. If you have to travel from Lucknow to Agra, Jaipur or Jodhpur on board the Marudhar express today, you have to book a ticket for tomorrow.
Arrival and departure time of Marudhar Express from Lucknow's Charbagh station has created a piquant situation for passengers boarding this important connecting train.It arrives at 11:55 pm and leaves at 12.05 am. The date changes between these 10 minutes. In most cases the passengers book the ticket for the current day's journey. When they reach to board the train, the date factor reveals that their booking was meant for the previous day. Confused passengers are left stranded and at best they can claim a 50 per cent refund.
Wrong timings of this train mentioned in the railway timetable - 11.45 pm arrival and 11.55 as departure - adds to their woes. "I came to the station with my family to go Jodhpur but we all had to go back because we were shocked when we were told that the tickets were meant for the previous day", said Vaibhav Singh, a government official. What more he only could claim 50 per cent of his money back as the train had already left. The family had confirmed reservations, he added.
"I fail to understand why the railway authorities can't alter the timings by just five minutes to avoid the confusion", suggested Vinod Shukla, another harassed passenger. As it is, getting a reservation is a Herculean task and after all the effort one feels cheated with this technical flaw. "People might have tight schedules which go haywire due to the Railway's short-sightedness", commented Priya.
When contacted Additional Divisional Railway Manager (ADRM II), Northern Railways, Rajendra Singh said, "Passengers should always get their reservation done on the basis of the train departure timing". Taking over the issue of bringing about a change in the train timings, Singh said "We cannot bring about any change in the timings without such instructions. But keeping in view the complaints, we will take up the case with the higher authorities." We have also ordered the man at the ticket counter to cross-check the date of journey with passengers", added Singh. As far as the problem of inaccurate time being mentioned in the railway timetable is concerned, the authorities promise to get it corrected soon.