Indian Railways has finally taken a tough stand against passengers who board the sleeper and AC coaches without confirmed tickets. Henceforth, only passengers with confirmed tickets shall be permitted to board these classes.
Passengers with waiting tickets will be requested to get down at the next station whereas passengers who are found travelling without a confirmed ticket are bound to pay the penalty. The penalty will be Rs 440 along with the fare to next station while travelling in AC coach and Rs 250 along with a fare up to next station while travelling in sleeper class.
Accordingly, strict checking at all stations is being done and announcements are being made on platforms for apprising passengers of the new requirement. It is part of a more comprehensive move to regularize the travel by train and making passengers aware about the need to adhere to the rules.
Apart from the crackdown on unconfirmed ticket travel, Indian Railways have also done away with the system of generating receipts for higher classes of travel and banned the passengers who have general tickets from upgrading to AC coaches on board.
Indian Railways to add 10,000 non-AC coaches in 2 years
In its endeavour to curb the menace of overcrowding, Indian Railways will add 10,000 non-AC coaches within the next two years. Of these, 5,300 would be general coaches. These will raise confirmed tickets and, therefore, reduce passengers’ discomfort during journeys.
According to the Divisional PRO, Ratlam Division Pradeep Sharma, “The new rules are aimed at streamlining traveling to make it smoother and comfortable as there will not be any overloading in the sleeper and AC coaches.” But these new rules also increased complaints of passengers, indicating growing dissatisfaction among the travelers.
But the new rules have had mixed results, as the furore of Western Railways to disband the ticket-checking squads and deploy them directly on trains has brought in several problems in implementing the rule that only confirmed ticket holders can travel in sleeper and AC coaches.
The Indian Railways had been experiencing a jampacked train and passengers with unconfirmed tickets for several decades. The recent crackdown is, hence, a bold step towards a solution to such age-old issues. However, enforcement of the rules has led to an increase in passenger complaints and discomfort in the present scenario.
Indian Railways thus expects that the new measures will streamline the operations and overall passenger satisfaction in the long run.