Zojuist trein van Mumbai naar Hospet geboekt.
Ten tijde van de boeking stond er ‘waitlist 7’. Na het lezen van de FAQ is het mij nog niet geheel duidelijk hoe e.e.a. nu in elkaar steekt.
Is het nu gewoon afwachten dat er 7 mensen hun ticket cancelen zodat ik alsnog met deze trein mee kan? Ik zit in AC 3
Dank!
Als de treinreis niet lukt dan als optie een oneway ticket boeken naar Dabolim (Goa) bij Jet Airways, middagvlucht rond 12.00 uur kost circa 2.500 RS (behalve op vrijdag dan is het 2x zo duur) Prepaid taxi naar Calangute (ca 700 Rs) van daar met nachtbus naar Hospet. Beetje omslachtig maar zo kom je er ook in geval van “nood”. Succes!
Men zegt niet voor niets “In India everything is possible” Heb de ervaring dat het met een beetje geduld meestal wel goed komt. En ja een sleepercoach van Calangute/Panaji naar Hospet is geen plezierritje gezien de toestand van de wegen maar het scheelt wel weer de kosten van een overnachting. Veel plezier aldaar!
Inhoudelijk:
http://irfca.org/faq/faq-travel.html
"Tickets on the Wait List ('WL') are not even guaranteed such sitting accommodation, and are entirely unconfirmed at the time of issue. Seating or sleeping accommodation will be available only if enough other persons with reservations cancel their tickets. On some popular routes, high wait-list numbers in the hundreds are not unusual, and holders of such tickets may still end up with reserved accommodation by the day of the journey since there is a lot of flux as people cancel and re-arrange their trips.
For many trains it is not unusual to see high numbers for the waitlist positions, such as in the 300s. For some trains, this is still reasonable because the trains typically see a lot of cancellation and re-booking activity in the days just before the journey. For some other trains, the high numbers on the wait list indicating that such requests for reservations are still being accepted may simply mean that the zonal railway is planning to run an additional trains as specials to clear the rush later. When the maximum wait list number defined for a train is reached for a particular day's journey, the reservation system refuses to accept any more requests for that day. In such cases, this is shown as ‘REGRET’ in the reservation status.
The reservation status for a train is shown online in a format such as 24-4-2005 WL 273 / WL 189. This indicates that earlier the position was a wait list of 273, and now the wait list has shrunk to 189; i.e., if you were to try to book a ticket now, you would get a wait list position higher than 189. A notation such as 24-4-2005 REGRET / WL 215 indicates that earlier no reservations were being accepted even on the wait list, and now the wait list position is at 215."
WL 7 is zeer laag. De volgende stap is dat je status RAC (Reservation against cancellation) wordt. Dan mag je in elk geval mee, en wordt op de trein een zitplaats en als het mogelijk is een slaapplaats geregeld.
“Reservation Against Cancellation ('RAC') refers to a ticket status where you have requested a reservation for a berth but do not actually have a reservation for a berth until some berth becomes available through the cancellation of some other reserved ticket. RAC ticket holders can board the reserved coach for the overnight journey, but are only assured of reserved sitting accommodation on the seats at the side of the coach (not in the compartments). If no berths become available, two RAC ticket holders have to share the seats on the side without converting it to a berth by laying down the bunk over them. A third RAC ticket holder gets to use the upper side berth. The side berths are shorter than the berths in the main compartments.”
Het complete verhaal over dit systeem en de “quota” (een tamelijk ondoorzichtig systeem voor buitenstaanders) kun je op de pagina waar ik de link heb gegeven nalezen. Aangezien er een gigantisch aantal quoata bestaat voro bijzondere groepen personen (bijv. freedom fighters, oorlogsweduwen, studenten, artiesten, etc, etc, etc), die hoogstwaarschijnlijk niet allemaal gebruikt worden vallen er altijd plaatsen op het laatste moment vrij.
The lowest class on Indian trains is Unreserved. An unreserved ticket gives you the right to be on the train, in the general carriages. How you fit in to it is your problem. You could end up standing, squatting in the aisle, or lying on a luggage rack. Few actually get seats in the carriage. Travelling unreserved on the trains is certainly an experience. If you have a short day trip somewhere, you might check it out. Your fellow passengers will most likely be country folk, colorful and gregarious, but unlikely to speak too much English. Guaranteed to be an experience.
The toilet on most trains is an experience. They are cleaner these days than in the past, but the floors are often wet (and slippery) from leaking water. Most toilets are squat type and are preferable to the western style ones because you don't want to sit down on anything in a train bathroom. However, be careful, because with all the lurching and shaking, if you drop anything it's gone down that little hole in the floor. Toothbrushes and soap dishes are easily replaceable, but your passport, watch, or wallets are not. Contact lenses are particularly a problem. Take them out at your seat, or better yet, wear your glasses on the train.
Actually using the toilet on the train is an acquired art. The floor is slippery and the train is lurching. Hang on to something. For many it will prove the biggest challenge they have faced since early childhood potty training.
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