New Delhi: Getting a seat in a train during Diwali-Chhath is like getting food for a hungry person. In fact, many people book tickets 3 months in advance. In such a situation, people who have to travel due to some emergency or whose leave is approved late from the office hardly get a confirmed seat. Indian Railways also runs many special trains (Festive Special Trains) to control the crowd and provide convenience to the passengers during the festive season, but still one is not able to get a confirmed seat on many routes.

In such a situation, the question arises whether there is any trick to get a confirmed train ticket in this situation. The answer is 'yes'. Indian Railways had started the Train Alternate Train Accommodation Scheme (ATAS) to get a confirmed train ticket. Many passengers still do not know about this scheme. We will tell you about this scheme below.

What is Train Alternate Accommodation Scheme (ATAS)

Now passengers can also book train tickets with the help of Artificial Intelligence (AI). ATAS was started to simplify the process of train booking with the help of AI. It is also called Vikalp Yojana. The objective of this scheme is to provide confirmed tickets to passengers.

If a passenger books a waiting ticket and selects the ATAS option, ATAS helps in providing a seat in another train on that route. Now understand it like this, if you check the seat availability of all trains while booking a ticket but there is no confirmed seat in any of them, then you get tired and take a waiting ticket for any train. After some time, if a ticket gets cancelled in another train, ATAS will send you a notification informing you that a confirmed seat is available in that train. Now you can transfer your waiting ticket to another train and in this way you will get a confirmed seat. This scheme will be very beneficial for those passengers who are travelling in an emergency.

How can you avail the benefits of Option Scheme

While booking tickets online, Vikalp Yojana is suggested. You have to select this option. Now you have to select 7 trains which run on your route. If the train in which you have booked a seat does not have confirmed seats available and seats are available in another train, then you will get a seat in the other train.

Let us tell you that it is not necessary that you will get a confirmed seat after selecting Vikalp Yojana. You will get a seat only if a seat is available in any of the 7 trains you have selected. This facility of Indian Railways gives more options to the passengers and at the same time it also tries to make the journey easier.