ALTERNATE TRAIN ACCOMMODATION SCHEME-ATAS

ALTERNATE TRAIN ACCOMMODATION SCHEME-ATAS

In peak seasons, popular trains of Indian Railways have very heavy waiting list, even when Special trains introduced by Railways have vacant berths due to the fact that the general public is most of the time not aware of these special trains/non popular trains. To overcome this problem Alternate Train Accommodation Scheme (ATAS) is introduced by Indian Railways. In this scheme, waiting list passenger bookings will be transferred to special trains/popular/non popular trains depending on availability in these trains.

EXISTING SCHEME:
·The scheme is already implemented in following sectors:
New Delhi- Jammu
New Delhi- Lucknow
The scheme is applicable to all e-ticket waiting list passengers irrespective of booking quota and concession
Under this scheme, Waiting list passengers are given give choice to opt for ATAS scheme.
ATAS opted passengers who remain fully Waitlisted after charting are considered for allotment in the alternate train.
·At present passengers are transferred to other trains belonging to same site as that of their train.
No extra charges are taken from passenger nor any refund is provided for difference of fare.
Either all passengers of a PNR or none are transferred to alternate train in same class.
The passenger allotted alternate accommodation can travel in the alternate train on authority of original ticket and in case of ticket on ERS/SMS of original booking.
When an ATAS opted passenger opts to cancel, after he has been given an alternate accommodation, he is treated as a CONFIRMED passenger and the cancellation rules are applied accordingly.
At present this scheme applies to only source quota passengers.
New Changes Introduced:
·The scheme will now be launched on following sectors:
New Delhi-Chennai
New Delhi-Bangalore
New Delhi-Mumbai
New Delhi-Howrah
New Delhi-Secunderabad
·The scheme will be implemented across all train types except Suvidha/Rajdhani/Shatabdi/Duronto/Jan Shatabdi.
·Inter site train pairing will be allowed that is a passenger can be transferred to a train which is originating from other site and touching passengers boarding station. The condition being that the source station of main train or its principle station should be present in alternate train as valid remote.

· Passengers booked against any remote station will be tried for transferring condition being that exactly same remotes should be present in the alternate train. Principle station concept will not apply for other remote (except source) passengers.

Source:PIBNEWS