In a big relief to the waitlisted passengers, the Indian Railways is all set to introduce the provision of alternative accommodation ‘Vikalp’ for the travellers where they would be given an opportunity to select the next available trains if seats for the same class were available. The facility will be available from April 1.
As per the Vikalp Scheme, there would be no extra charges taken from the passenger or any refund provided for the difference of fare and this would be a chance where a passenger can avail the opportunity of travelling in Rajdhani or Shatabdi trains if the booked tickets in other mail/express trains for the same destinations remained under waitlisted.
As per the scheme, waitlisted passengers of a train would be given option of getting confirmed accommodation in the next train running on the route. While there is a huge demand for train berths in certain sector round the year, some routes witness increased rush during festive season.
The passenger, if opts for the Vikalp Scheme while booking tickets, will get SMS alert on his/her mobile phone about getting confirmed accommodation in the alternative train. The name of the passenger who has been provided accommodation in the alternative train will not figure in the waitlisted charts of their original train and thus a separate list of passengers transferred in alternative train will be pasted along with the confirmed and waitlist charts.
“Railways is launching a new scheme from April 1 under which waitlisted passengers can get confirmed accommodation in the next alternative train if they opt for the option while booking their tickets. This is presently available in four trains but next month onwards the scheme has been thrown open for all trains across the country,” said a senior railway official.
Known as ‘Vikalp’, the alternative train accommodation scheme aims to utilise vacant berths also in many premier trains including Rajdhani, Shatabdi, Duronto and other special service such as Suvidha trains in all major routes.
Describing the scheme as a “passenger friendly” move to provide confirmed accommodation to waitlisted passengers in alternative trains, the official said, “We aim to achieve the twin objectives of providing confirmed accommodation to waitlisted passengers and ensure optimal utilisation of available accommodation by this scheme.”
After introduction of flexi-fare system in premier trains, some berths are going vacant while at the same time many could not be accommodated in other Mail/Express trains due to huge demand.“In any case these berths are running vac-ant. So whatever we can save in refund is going to be a neat save for us,” the official added.
