Vikalp Scheme to End the Woes of Wait-listed Passengers Soon

The wait of the wait-listed passengers might finally come to an end. The Indian Railways is rumoured to come up with a new scheme called the Vikalp Scheme according to which, passengers can travel in any other alternative train in the same route if their ticket is not confirmed.

Reportedly, the scheme would be first implemented in the metro cities like Chennai and Bangalore. It has been partially implemented in Mumbai already, and is expected to roll out in Visakhapatnam by April because of the rush during the summer vacations.

G Sunil Kumar, senior divisional commercial manager, Waltair division, has reportedly said the scheme was launched with a prime objective of helping the wait-listed passengers by allowing them to travel in other alternative trains on the same routes. “We have not received any official communication about the launching of the scheme in our jurisdiction as on date. We have no idea about when it will be rolled out in Visakhapatnam,” Sunil Kumar added.

The sources said the railways launched the scheme to recover its financial losses which is estimated to be around Rs 40,000 crore. The railways are losing nearly Rs 25 crore to Rs 30 crore a day from wait-listed passengers. With the launch of the scheme, the railways are hoping to recover at least Rs 20 crore a day.

The wait-listed passengers will have to book the train tickets through the Vikalp option in the online reservation system. The facility is presently applicable to the same class ticket and will get updated soon. If a passenger does not like the alternative train, he can cancel the ticket but it would be treated as cancellation of a fully confirmed ticket.

The system is available for online ticketing now in Mumbai. It will soon be available over-the-counter through a special software which is being readied for that purpose.