Indian Railways has indicated that it will start mail, express as well as the chair car service soon. The Railway Board on Wednesday issued an order which introduces the provision of waiting list tickets not only for its operational special trains but for more trains as well ¡°to be notified in due course¡±.
Presently, some special trains only with confirmed tickets are booked, the wait listed tickets will now be available for booking opening on May 15 for journeys beginning from May 22.?
The railways has, however, put a cap on the waiting list which is up to 100 for AC 3 tier, 50 for AC 2 tier, 200 for sleeper class, 100 for chair cars, and 20 each for First AC and Executive Class that is also shortening queues for confirmed tickets.?
Before the lockdown, the railways operated around 12,000 trains everyday. Since May 1, it has run 366 special trains for migrant workers from different corners of the country. On Monday, which is approximately six weeks after the lockdown started, the home ministry announced that a limited train service will begin from Tuesday.?
The order from the railway board which goes for the zones indicates that the railways is planning to start its mixed services instead of all air-conditioned trains. This could mean that the railway can start services to smaller areas or towns along with some major cities.?
?Tatkal, premium tatkal quota, senior citizen quota? none of these will be available on these trains. Reservation against Cancellation tickets will also not be allowed. No waiting list candidate will be allowed to travel,?officials said, and also added that they will get full refund.
Railways Minister Piyush Goyal on Twitter posted ¡°Railways plans to gradually restart passenger train operations from May 12, 2020, initially with 15 pairs of special trains connecting New Delhi with major stations across India. Booking in these trains will start at 4 pm on May 11".
There is a list of rules which emphasize upon social distancing and screening of the passengers before boarding, was also issued.?
The destination for the trains, starting from New Delhi includes Dibrugarh, Agartala, Howrah, Patna, Bilaspur, Ranchi, Bhubaneswar, Secunderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram, Madgoan, Mumbai Central, Ahmedabad and Jammu Tawi a statement from the Railways said.?
So far there is no order from the railways to begin more service but Wednesday¡¯s order slightly indicates that it could begin services of non-air conditioned trains.?