Rail Passengers Can Soon Choose Their Own Berths In Trains; And It Would Be Free!
Indian Railways is aiming to replicate the airlines' model of choosing desired seats.
When you choose to fly, then every airlines provide this facility to choose your own berth, and check which seats are vacant. Often, to choose the best seats, passengers are asked to even pay extra amount.
Now, Indian Railways will soon launch a similar service, and it shall be free.
How will this work? And what are its advantages?
Keep reading to find out more!
Indian Rail Will Allow Passengers To Choose Berths
Railway Minister Piyush Goyal has asked Railway officials to enable a system, wherein any rail passenger can view vacant seats, and then choose the one which he or she desires.
This would be based on the airlines model.
An unnamed Rail official said, “Just like airlines, Railways is planning to enable passengers to see the status of seats by making the reservation charts public.”
As per reports coming in, the vacant berths would be colored differently so that the passenger can make an informed decision.
How Will It Work?
This is a possible process:
- Passenger logs into IRCTC website/app to book a ticket.
- While completing the transaction, a new window will pop-up wherein the passenger can view all vacant seats in a train, based on coaches. Hence, vacant seats in coach B1, coach B2 and so on.
- Depending on the preferences, the passenger can book a berth, and confirm it.
Note here, that lower berths would be still reserved for senior citizens and women, under this new system.
Another option can be, that once the ticket has been booked, the passenger can use the PNR number to select the best berth, by opening a dedicated portal meant for this facility. This is again, based on airlines’ current system.
Selection Shall Be Free
Unlike airlines, which charge extra for selecting the best seats, this facility to choose berth in trains shall be free as of now.
Based on the age and sex of the passenger, the available seats would be displayed, under different colors. However in order to implement this, Railways will need to display the reservation status of the entire train, which may take up time.
Earlier, Indian Railways had announced that ticket checkers would be enabled with hand-held devices to give real-time information about vacant berths to passengers.
We will keep you updated, as more details come in.
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