The recent move by the Ministry of Railways to introduce new technology, where Travelling Ticket Examiners on board the Rajdhani Express and Shatabdi Express trains will have hand-held, SIM-enabled tablets with a list of reserved passengers, is a step that will have a positive impact. The Railways should now quickly implement a system to allocate berths to RAC/Waitlisted passengers automatically across all the categories of trains for booked tickets. The Railway Board should also do away with an archaic rule which has no place in today’s busy world. Its online booking system and an offline mechanism allows a reserved ticket holder to change the boarding point only 24 hours prior to departure of the train. Such a rule has no value as it is not practically possible to make a decision within 24 hours prior to departure to change the boarding point from the station of origin. A time frame of 36-48 hours is ideal. Passengers who travel for business or official work find such a rule infeasible.
Varun Dambal,
Bengaluru
