New Delhi: A number of news articles have been making rounds on social media from the past few weeks which claimed that the Indian Railways is planning to do way with the provision of waiting lists from 2024. The Railway Ministry on Saturday, quashing such reports clarified that it is doing the opposite, the ministry is taking measures so that no passenger is allotted to the waiting list.

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"Various newspapers and online publications have given wide coverage to draft National Rail Plan. Some of the news reports appear to suggest that Railways has said that there would be No waiting list with effect from 2024 or only confirmed tickets would be available by 2024," the ministry in a statement said.

The statement further said that the provision is not being done away with. "Waitlist" is a provision that acts as a buffer to mitigate the fluctuations in demand and availability.

The Railway Ministry also said that it is making efforts to increase the capacity to make trains available on-demand which would "reduce the possibility of passengers getting waitlisted", but this does not mean that there will be no waiting lists.

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"Railways would like to explain and clarify that efforts are being made to increase the capacity to make trains available on demand. This would reduce the possibility of passengers getting waitlisted. The waitlist is a provision that remains whenever the demand for travelers in a given train is more than a number of berths or seats available," the ministry said.

Explaining the waitlist provision, the statement further said that waitlist is there when the demand for travelers for a given train surpasses the number of berths or seats available on the train.