NEW DELHI: When you are travelling overnight via train, running out of phone battery can be inconvenient. This is especially true when you need to check your ticket, contact someone or just arrange for transport once you reach the destination. But now, passengers can’t rely on onboard charging sockets throughout the night.
The Railway Board, in a letter issued on October 26, 2026, has instructed railway zones to strictly abide by the existing rule on keeping the charging points active at night. This comes after an incident in which a power bank reportedly exploded while charging on a train in South Eastern Railway zone.
Charging points on trains must remain switched off between 11 pm and 5 am. The restriction covers the overnight time when passengers are likely to be asleep and may not notice signs of overheating or an electrical fault.
The latest directive asks for staff training and surprise inspections to ensure this rule is in place. It also highlights concerns over onboard safety after the recent power bank incident.
The first and foremost reason for this is the risk of fire. With faulty batteries, damaged charging equipment and overheating devices, it can pose a hazard for passengers and the train.
The latest incident that caught the eye of the Railway Board was when a passenger’s power bank reportedly exploded and produced smoke while connected to a train charging point.
The Railway Board noted that onboard staff had failed to switch off the charging points as required.
In fact, overnight charging has also raised concerns about theft, as passengers may leave their phones connected to sockets while sleeping.
The Railway Board first issued instructions in June 2014, following a fire in an AC three-tier coach of the Hazur Sahib Nanded-KSR Bengaluru Express in 2013.
The Commissioner of Railway Safety, Southern Circle, recommended switching off charging points for mobile phones and laptops in air-conditioned coaches between 10 pm and 6 am. The Railway Board subsequently prescribed the 11 pm to 5 am window.
The rule was easier to implement in AC coaches, where charging points could simply be switched off during the specified hours. Non-AC coaches, however, posed a different challenge. In earlier communications, the Railway Board said enforcing the restriction would require deploying staff, which is something it considered difficult because of the costs involved.
The latest directive tells railway zones to follow the charging-point rules strictly. That said, the difficulties highlighted earlier suggest that enforcement may not have been the same everywhere, and passengers should not expect the rule to have been applied uniformly across all coaches.
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