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The special trains which are to ply between 15 state capitals as part of the Centre’s efforts to ease nationwide lockdown, will not have any waitlisted tickets. The tickets, for which the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) will start bookings soon, are likely to be paperless, given the reduce chances of coronavirus contamination through paper.
No waitlisted tickets will be issued for these trains, said sources in the know. Their fares will be priced at Rajdhani Express levels. There won’t be any higher pricing, even if there is higher demand, as there will be no tatkal and premium tatkal tickets, and there won’t be provision for current booking.
The confirmed tickets, which are paperless tickets, may work as an e-pass for people travelling shorter distances to reach railway stations, said an official.
It’s not clear if people have to register in advance to enter different States, as was the case for migrant workers travelling in non-AC trains. Official word on these features are awaited.
Click here for the full list of trains
Passengers will be screened for temperature and are likely to be checked through Aarogya Setu app as well.
As travelling in centralised AC environment with asymptomatic passengers is a possibility, only those who have a strong need to travel are expected to book the tickets. The trains are likely to have AC-1, AC-2 tier and AC 3-tier coaches, accommodating a lesser number of people than full coaches.
Online booking only
For all these AC trains, tickets shall be booked only online on IRCTC website or through its mobile app. Thus, booking of tickets through ‘agents’, both through IRCTC and Railway, shall not be allowed. However, travel agents can use a private account to book a ticket for someone who is unable to book a ticket, though this is not permitted by rules.
Indian Railways plans to gradually restart passenger train operations from May 12, initially with 15 pairs of trains (30 return journeys). These trains will be run as special trains from New Delhi station connecting Dibrugarh, Agartala, Howrah, Patna, Bilaspur, Ranchi, Bhubaneswar, Secunderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram, Madgaon, Mumbai Central, Ahmedabad and Jammu Tawi. These trains will are likely to halt at select stations, said an official.
Special trains for migrants
Meanwhile, the Indian Railways stated they have already operated over 460 Shramik special trains, for which States are required to book an entire set of coaches. These are the non-AC trains, and States are required to pay the fare for 1,200 tickets.
The Railways said that they will start more special services on new routes, based on the available coaches after reserving 20,000 coaches for Covid-19 care centres, and adequate number of coaches being reserved to enable operation of up to 300 trains everyday as “Shramik Special” for stranded migrants, it said in a release.
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