The Railways on Wednesday issued a list of 100 pairs of trains that it will operate from June 1, putting in operation popular trains such as Duronto’s, Sampark Kranti’s, Jan Shatabdi’s and Poorva Express.
This is the second slew of special passenger services that marked the Railways graded restoration of its trains which were suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic.
While in a statement issued earlier, the Railways had said that these trains will be fully non-air conditioned, on Wednesday it said that these will have both AC and non-AC classes and fully reserved coaches.
It said these trains will be ‘special trains run on the pattern of regular trains’, covering tier 2 cities and also major state capitals like Mumbai, Kolkata.
Official said from now on, all such special trains will have both these classes to accommodate all classes of passengers.
These include 17 Jan Shatabdi trains and five Duronto Express trains.
It said the general (GS) coaches shall also have reserved seats for sitting, meaning there will be no unreserved coach in these trains.
Fare shall be as normal, it said. But second seating(2S) fare shall be charged for General (GS) coaches being reserved.
Seats will be provided to all passengers, the Railways said, adding these trains shall run from June 1 and booking will commence at 10 am on May 21.
Only online e-ticketing will be done through IRCTC website or through Mobile App, and no tickets will be booked across the reservation counter on any railway station, the Railways said.
The ARP (advance reservation period) shall be maximum 30 days and RAC and wait list will be generated as per extant rules, however, waiting list ticket-holders shall not be permitted to board the train, it said.
No unreserved (UTS) tickets will be issued and no tickets will be issued on board to any passenger during the journey, it said, adding no tatkal and premium tatkal booking shall be permitted.
Just like the 15 pairs of special trains being run on the Rajdhani routes, on these trains too face cover/mask and Aarogya Setu app will be compulsory and passengers have to reach the station 90 minutes before the scheduled departure of train.
Only asymptomatic passengers would be allowed to travel and those found symptomatic will get full refund, railways said.
All quotas in these trains have been restored and concessions will be given to only four categories of Divyangjan and 11 categories of patients.Passengers have also been asked to carry their own linen and only packed food items will be available in the pantry cars on payment basis, the Railways said.
These special services shall be in addition to the existing Shramik special trains being run since May 1 and Special AC trains being run since May 12.
Other regular passenger services including all mail/express, passenger and suburban services shall remain cancelled until further advice, it said.
2 intrastate trains to run in Karnataka from Friday
The Railways is also set to resume intrastate services as it gave its nod to run two trains in Karnataka from May 22, the South Western Railways said on Wednesday.
The two special trains are the Bengaluru – Hubli – Belagavi and Mysore — Bengaluru Special Express, according to an order issued by the SWR.
These will be the first intrastate trains to be run by the Railways since it suspended passenger services due to the coronavirus lockdown.
The bookings for these trains will be online through the Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) portal.
‘Intrastate special trains started in Karnataka. Bengaluru – Belagavi and Bengaluru – Mysore expresses to begin with 100 per cent. Passengers have to book the tickets online. These trains will help the people who were stranded during lockdown,’ Minister of State for Railways Suresh Angadi tweeted.
The Railway Board approval came two days after the Karnataka government gave its nod to commence the train services within the state.
The Railways had earlier cancelled operation of all regular trains till June 30.
In a communiqué to the SWR on Wednesday, the Board said the trains may be operated at the earliest convenient date to the zone.
Both the trains will be operated as fully reserved trains and strict maintenance of social distancing norms, the Board said.
The Bengaluru-Belagavi service would depart Bengaluru at 8 am, reach Hubli at 3.25 pm and Belagavi at 4.30 pm.
In its return journey, it would leave Belagavi at 8 am, Hubli at 10.50 am to reach Bengaluru at 4.30 pm.
It would have stops at Yeshwantpur, Tumakuru, Arsikere, Birur, Chikkajajur, Davangere, Harihar, Ranebennur, Haveri, Hubli, and Dharwad.
From Bengaluru, it would operate on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and from Belagavi, on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.
The Bengaluru-Mysuru daily express special would depart Bengaluru at 9.20 am to reach Mysuru at 12.45 pm while in the return direction, it would depart Mysuru at 1.45 pm to reach Bengaluru at 5 pm.
It would have stops at Kengeri, Ramanagaram, Maddur, Mandya, Pandavapura, and Naganahalli.