RAC (Reservation Against Cancellation) is one of the biggest headaches for train passengers. You pay the full ticket price, yet you may have to share a seat for the whole trip. Many people still travel this way because they cannot put off a trip once it is planned. This problem has been there for years, and it may now be fixed. The Railways is said to be thinking of ending RAC.
How RAC works
RAC seats are given when a train has no free berths left. A passenger with an RAC ticket is not fully confirmed but is still allowed to board. One side berth is shared by two people. Sometimes a man and a woman are given the same berth by mistake, and ticket examiners (TTEs) have a hard time sorting it out.
A parliamentary panel raised this issue. It asked why a passenger should pay the full fare when they do not get a full berth for the whole journey. The panel asked the Railways to review this way of booking. Based on this, English media reports say Indian Railways is thinking of ending the RAC system. No final decision has been taken yet.
Why RAC began
In the past, train tickets were booked by hand. When someone cancelled, their berth stayed empty. RAC was started so that the empty berth could be given to another passenger. It came at a time when there was no computer system to track cancellations, and it has stayed the same for years.
