AGRA: There is good news for people travelling by trains. Keeping in mind the inconvenience caused to passengers whose wait-listed tickets do not make it to the confirmed list, the Railways is now mulling to provide berths in other trains running on the same route, on the same ticket.

Once the project gets the go-ahead and becomes operational, passengers will be given the option to complete their journey on different trains without having to bother about cancellation of tickets and refunds.

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Additional director general of the Railway Board, Anil Kumar Saxena, told TOI, “The proposal for providing berths in alternative trains is still at the initial stage. The idea is to run all trains with full capacity.” He added, “Often we find that on a particular route, some trains are always overbooked and passengers seek berths in it even when their tickets are way down on the waiting list. Since there are many trains running on almost every route, we are working to provide passengers the option to travel on alternative trains if their tickets do not get confirmed.”

Terming it as a win-win situation for both the railways and passengers, Prabhash Kumar, divisional railway manager, Agra division, said, “If this proposal becomes operational, passengers can hope to reach their destination without any hassle. For the railways, the underutilized berths will get occupied and generate revenue.”

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Giving details, Saxena said passengers will be given the option to mention the train numbers of alternative trains other than the one the want to primarily take. “Implementing the plan is not an easy task. For this, major upgradations have to be made in the CRIS (Center for Railway Information Systems),” he added.

Two months back, IRCTC, a subsidiary firm of the railways, was in talks with the Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (UPSRTC) to provide ultra-luxury Scania bus as an alternative mode of travelling to train passengers whose tickets didn’t make it to the confirmed list. The plan is still at the incubation stage.