More than 2.7 crore railway reservations on the waiting list were canceled during the financial year 2022-23. The Railway Board has given this information in response to a question under the Right to Information Act.
The figure reflects on the shortage of trains on the busiest routes in the country. In the previous financial year, this figure was 1.65 crore. Responding to the question by an RTI activist, Chandra Shekhar Gaur of Madhya Pradesh, the Railway Board said during the aforementioned period, 1.76 crore PNR numbers on which 2.72 people were to travel were automatically canceled due to waiting tickets.
During the previous year, 2021-22, 1.06 crore PNRs were automatically canceled on which 1.65 crore passengers were to travel.
After the cancellation of the PNRs remaining on the waiting list, the ticket fare was refunded to the passengers. The inability to provide confirmed tickets to passengers has been a recurring problem with the national transporter.
According to official data, the number of PNRs canceled due to waiting lists in the year 2014-15 was 1.13 crore. In 2015-16, 81.05 lakh, 72.13 lakh in 2016-17, 73 lakh in 2017-18, and 68.97 lakh in 2018-19 were canceled due to waiting railway PNRs.
The total number of auto PNRs canceled due to waiting lists in the year 2020-21 was 38.89 lakh and tickets for 61 lakh passengers were booked on these PNRs. Railways has said that it is making efforts to increase the capacity of seat availability in trains.
“This will reduce the chances of passengers getting on the waiting list,” said an official.
Officials also pointed out that before the Covid pandemic, the Railways ran 10,186 trains, which has reached 10,678 trains at present. According to the official, work is underway on the railway network signaling and track so that more trains can be pressed into service.