- The Indian Railways, which will operate 80 more special trains from September 12 in addition to the 230 already plying, has now announced a ‘clone train’ scheme to ferry passengers with waitlisted tickets to their destinations.
- Wherever there is a demand for a particular train, wherever the waiting list is long, railway will run a clone train ahead of the actual train so that passengers can travel.
- A ‘clone’ train will be run as an alternative to an actual one and will have its number.
- Such a train will be operated only if there is a large number of passengers on the waiting list of a particular train.
- Only waitlisted passengers will be accommodated on a ‘clone’ train.
- Passengers on the waiting list shall be informed about their berths or seats on a ‘clone’ train after reservation charts of the actual train is released or four hours before departure.
- Railways is likely to introduce these trains in the next 15 days and will issue a notification in this regard.
- This scheme is similar to the ‘Vikalp’ scheme under which waitlisted passengers are accommodated in another train on the same route, regardless of booking quota and concession.
- However, in the case of ‘Vikalp’ scheme, instead of the original boarding and destination stations, nearby boarding and destination stations may be allotted to the passengers.
