New Delhi: The travellers of AC and Sleeper class coaches expressed their plights and said adding extra General Coaches will not help to reduce the long list of waiting tickets in these categories.
Expressing concern over the matter, Gaffar Ali, a train passenger, told ETV Bharat, "I have to travel from Delhi to Kolkata for my business purpose but due to long waiting list for a confirmed seat, either I have to postpone my business tour or take other mode of transport which effect my pocket directly.”
"I have recently heard that the Railways is going to add extra general coaches for unreserved passengers but it will not help us to get confirmed tickets because we need extra coaches or trains in the reservation category,” Ali added.
Another passenger, Lochan Singh told ETV Bharat, "AC and Sleeper class passengers face a double whammy at the same time with waiting ticket, first in waiting ticket we don’t get a seat and second E-ticket automatically refund amount following which we become ticketless, so we cannot travel in the General coach with the same waiting ticket. In that situation, we don’t have any other option but to buy another ticket which is a pathetic situation for senior citizens like me."
Union Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw recently said around 12,000 general coaches will be added in the trains to boost unreserved passengers for economically weaker sections of society. Vaishnaw emphasised the balanced focus on both economically weaker and others by maintaining a ratio of 2:3 for non-AC coaches and 1:3 for AC coaches.
Responding to the query, Kapinjal Kishore Sharma, Chief Public Relations Officer, Northeast Frontier Railways told ETV Bharat, "Adding these general coaches will not directly affect other category's waiting list of tickets that is different section but special trains services help to reduce that waiting list as railways run special trains time to time."
Similarly, North Central Railways, CPRO, Shashikant Tripathi, and Northern Railways, CPRO, Himanshu Shekhar Upadhyay told ETV Bharat that General Coaches are only for unreserved passengers and it will help to accommodate general passengers. "It has nothing to do with other categories to reduce the waiting ticket list," they said.
A passenger Vansh Kumar Singh told ETV Bharat, "The Railways should add some coaches with a facility of chairs seating for waiting ticket holders as least for counter ticket holders."
