Bro, why should there be waiting lists at all!!
Why we think that waiting lists are necessity or cannot be done away with?
It is failure of politically/departmentally managed IR that it failed to expand or offer services to fulfill the traffic demanded by nation.
That is why share of IR in national passenger traffic has shrunk from 75% to only 15% since...
more... independence.
Railways is such an efficient and economical mode of transport, that if run very efficiently, buses shall cease to operate in the routes served by Railway.
Once an old man who had witnessed the indpendence as an adult, said that there was sufficient IR infrastructure, supply of seats/wagons to meet the demand during British Raj and several years after independence.
When, Telecom sector was under govt monopoly, getting a phone connection was quite an ordeal. After liberalization leading to entry of pvt. sector players and competition, today a new phone connection is just a phone call away and is much cheaper too. The same thing has not happened in Railway transport sector, hence the pubic is getting inferior service at higher cost.