Southern Railway denies reports on social media platforms

The Southern Railway has denied reports that have appeared in social media platforms including "Whatsapp" on several changes and new facilities from July 1, saying such reports are doing the rounds without checking with the authorities.
According to a Southern Railway release here, the only new thing was that railways like other departments is rolling out GST from July 1.
The railways had been selling waitlisted tickets both through Online (e-ticket)and PRS counters.There is no change in this scheme, it said.
The railways has been running Suvidha Class of trains since July, 2015, and such trains will continue to run. The waitlisted ticket in such trains is also available, if required, it said.

Provision of partial refund in case of Suvidha Train tickets is available right from the beginning of the scheme. The railways had notified the refund rules in November 2015, and there is no change in that, it said.
According to the release, there is no proposal to discontinue paper tickets for Shatabdi and Rajdhani trains and for that matter in any class of train.

However, for passengers booking tickets online (i.E. E-Tickets), the tickets received by SMS is a valid authority for travel along with permissible proof of identity.
The booking time for Tatkal Tickets was changed in 2015 with booking for AC classes opening at 10:00 AM and for Non-AC classes at 11:00 AM one day in advance of actual date of journey excluding date of journey.

There is no change in these timings and the same arrangement is continuing. There is no change in the refund rules of tatkal tickets, it said.
According to the release, there is no such proposal to make Aadhaar mandatory for availing train concessions.There is no proposal for printing tickets (both, e tickets & PRS tickets) in regional languages, it added.
There is no proposal to run duplicate trains."We, in anyway, run special trains to clear the rush during peak season on identified popular routes as per the traffic requirements & operational feasibility," the release said.
Railways launched 'VIKALP', Alternative Train Accommodation Scheme(ATAS) on November 1,2015 with a view to providing confirmed accommodation to waitlisted passengers and also to ensure optimal utilization of available accommodation.

This facility was initially started on New Delhi-Jammu, New Delhi-Lucknow, Delhi-Howrah, Delhi-Chennai, Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Secunderabad circuits. The scheme was expanded to all the sectors on March 22,2017, it said.