Railways to also run AC trains from June 1; Shatabadis, Durontos to be restored

Railways has modified its earlier order to also include AC trains among those that will resume operation from June 1.

The ministry of railways issued guidelines Wednesday for the resumption of 100 pairs of regular passenger trains from June 1 with both AC and non-AC coaches, revising its earlier order allowing only non-AC trains.

Shatabdi express services will also be restored from June 1. (HT Photo/File)

The bookings for these trains will begin at 10 am on May 21. The national transporter has also permitted advance reservation period of maximum 30 days. At present advance booking for regular Rajdhani trains is only allowed up to a week.

Regular passenger trains including Jan Shtabadi, Sampark Kranti and Duronto Express have been restored.

Railways on Tuesday announced it will run 200 special passenger trains a day from June 1.

These trains will be fully reserved trains having both AC & Non AC classes. General (GS) coaches shall also have reserved seating. There will be no unreserved coach in the train, the ministry said.

“The fare shall be as normal and for general (GS) coaches, being reserved, second seating (2S) fare shall be charged and seat will be provided to all the passengers, the ministry said.

The 200 trains announced on Tuesday will run in addition to the premium passenger trains connecting New Delhi with 15 cities across India, and the ones ferrying stranded migrant labourers to their hometowns.

RAC and waitlist will be generated as per extant rules, however, waiting list ticket holders shall not be permitted to board the train, the ministry clarified, adding that no unreserved (UTS) tickets, tatkal and premium tatkal booking will be allowed.

It has also instructed all passengers to download and use the Aarogya Setu application. Passengers will also have to wear face masks at the entry and during the travel, reach the station at least 90 minutes in advance to facilitate thermal screening at the station and observe social distancing norms.

Railways has also allowed all existing quotas to be permitted in these special trains. A limited number of reservation (PRS) counters shall be operated for this purpose. However, normal ticket booking cannot be done through these counters. Concession will be allowed for the four categories of ‘Divyangjan’ along with 11 categories of patient concessions.

All stalls at the stations including food plaza will also be allowed to operate but only for selling take away food.