Shashi Tharoor welcomes Vande Bharat but expresses concern over waitlisted train tickets

New Delhi: Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Tuesday said a confirmed railway berth should no longer be just about luck, but a common feature, as he termed the “disproportionate focus” on Vande Bharat a matter of concern. Tharoor cited a media report, citing an RTI reply, which said that despite buying tickets in 2022-23, over 2.7 crore passengers could not travel by train because of waiting lists.

Tharoor said, “When will the long waiting list end in Indian Railways? 2.7 crore waitlisted passengers did not get confirmed seats, this year the highest number of waitlisted tickets got canceled on their own.” This trend has been going on, with every year breaking the previous year’s record, the Thiruvananthapuram MP said.

The former Union minister said, “The launch of Vande Bharat is welcome, but the disproportionate focus on it is worrying. In the 75th year of our independence, a confirmed railway berth should no longer be just about luck but a common convenience.”

He said that this matter should immediately attract the attention of the government.

The Railway Board logged 1.76 crore Passenger Name Record (PNR) numbers in 2022-2023, against which 2.72 crore passengers who were scheduled to travel, were automatically booked, according to a reply to an RTI petition filed by Madhya Pradesh activist Chandra Shekhar Gaur. were formally recorded. Canceled due to waiting list.

In 2021-2022, a total of 1.06 crore PNR numbers, out of which 1.65 crore passengers were to travel, were automatically cancelled. In case of cancellation of PNR, the ticket fare is refunded to the passengers.

Inability to provide confirmed tickets to passengers has been a recurring problem with the national transporter.