Title - No reserved coaches for wait-listed passengers

PUNE: Passengers with reserved tickets, who are on the waiting list will no longer be able to travel in reserved coaches.
According to the railway rules, anyone with an unconfirmed reserved ticket or an e-ticket is not allowed to travel in reserved coaches.
"However, a large number of passengers illegally board these coaches. Now, with strict implementation of the existing rule, no passenger with a waitlisted ticket can travel in a reserved coach as it causes inconvenience to passengers," said Chairperson of the Railway Pravasi Group, Harsha Shah.
She claimed that earlier there used to be a lot of congestion in second class coaches as many passengers used to travel without a confirmed ticket.
"Railway officials allowed them to travel and there has been lots of complaints from passengers travelling with confirmed reservations about congestion in reserved coaches,” Shah added.
However, when contacted, the Pune Divisional Railway Manager, Vishal Agarwal, said the rule was always in place and a passenger holding a waiting list ticket cannot travel in a sleeper coach and there used to be checking regarding the same from time to time.
"However, many passengers without confirmed tickets were found travelling in these coaches. Hence, the implementation of this rule is being made stricter for the convenience of bonafide passengers travelling with a confirmed ticket," added Agarwal.
According to the guidelines, if a passenger is found travelling without a confirmed ticket in a reserved coach, he will have to pay a penalty and alight from the train at the next station.