Ask TC coach to confirm train seats, berths

Mumbai: Passengers seeking to confirm if their berths/seats aboard long-distance trains beginning from Mumbai Central and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) got confirmed at the last minute will now have to ask the TC about where their coach is.

The Railway Board has directed that the Passengers List — a paper that is usually stuck on coaches and is known as ‘reservation chart’ — will be done away with. The move is an experimental one and includes Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai.

An official said, "If you are waitlisted or get Reservation Against Cancellation (RAC), a lot of people still come to the platform and see if their name is on the list and sometimes there are cases where the waitlisted persons do get a seat due to last minute cancellations etc.”

He also added, “But now this group of people are decreasing as many people check if they waitlisted through SMS, websites and help lines."

The letter issued by the Director Passenger Marketing, Vikram Singh  (Railway Board) states, “Based on the feedback from South Western Railway regarding discontinuation of practice of pasting reservation charts on the reserved coaches, the matter has been examined in this office and it has been decided to discontinue the pasting of reservation charts on reserved coaches of all trains at NDLS, NXM, BCT, CSTM, MAS, HWH and SDAH.”