Railways is also planning introduction of ’operation five minutes’ scheme under which ticketless passengers can get regular tickets within five minutes of entering station.

Now travellers can book train tickets four months in advance as the Railways has decided to extend the advance reservation period from 60 days to 120 days, with effect from April 1.

“The advance reservation period for booking reserved tickets have been extended from two months to four months now as announced in the Rail Budget 2015-16,” said a senior Railway Ministry official.

However, there will be no change in case of the limit of 360 days for foreign tourists.

Advancing the reservation period once again to 120 days would discourage the touts as it involves more cancellation charges, he said.

Railways is also planning introduction of ’operation five minutes’ scheme under which ticketless passengers can get regular tickets within five minutes of entering station.

Provision of coin-vending machines and ‘single destination teller windows’ will be operational at many stations shortly to reduce the ticket transaction time.