Stuck in the railway wait-list? You might just get an alternate berth

It can be very infuriating to be on the  Indian railway wait-list for a ticket till the last moment and sometimes not even get one. May be that’s why Indian Railways is coming up with different solutions to the problem. [caption id=“attachment_2389376” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. AFP[/caption] The latest in an effort to ease wait-listed passengers’ woes is a proposal to provide berths in other trains running on the same route to passengers whose wait-listed tickets are not confirmed. This alternate berth will be given on their original ticket itself, according to a report by The Times of India. However, the proposal is still in its initial stages. The report quotes Additional Director General of the Railway Board, Anil Kumar Saxena as saying, “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." This is’t the first move by the Railways to reduce the inconvenience caused to its wait-listed passengers. Back in June, IRCTC, a subsidiary of Indian Railways that handles catering, tourism and online ticketing operations for railway had come up with an offer wherein passengers who failed to get their wait-listed ticket confirmed had an option to convert it into an airline ticket at a competitive fare. The Railway PSU had tied-up with budget carrier GoAir and SpiceJet and are said to have sold more 100 tickets through this scheme. A few weeks later, IRCTC has inked an advertising partnership with ride-sharing service BlaBlaCar which allowed the company to advertise its ride-sharing services to IRCTC website users looking to book tickets for their city-to-city journeys. The move was aimed at travellers who don’t have confirmed train tickets and are seeking last-minute travel solutions. (With agency inputs)