Ahead of the ticket sale commencement, the Indian Railways has now issued guidelines for the graded operations which will begin from Tuesday.
According to the guidelines, tickets can only be booked online on
the IRCTC website or the mobile app. Booking of tickets through 'agents' (both IRCTC Agents and Railway Agents) is not permitted.
the IRCTC website or the mobile app. Booking of tickets through 'agents' (both IRCTC Agents and Railway Agents) is not permitted.
Railways had on Sunday announced the recommencement of passenger train services with limited operations.
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.
However, Railways has clarified that these guidelines are only for the special trains which commence operations from tomorrow, whereas other regular Passenger services including all mail/express, passenger and suburban services shall remain cancelled until further advice.
For the passengers, Railways has issued a separate standard operating procedure which has to be followed by all travellers. This includes wearing face masks, arriving at least 90 minutes prior to the scheduled time, and maintaining social distancing.
Furthermore, the Railways has clarified that only confirmed tickets will be booked, RAC Waiting list ticket and onboard booking by ticket checking staff will not be permitted.
These special trains which have been started will have only air-conditioned coaches i.e. First, Second & Third AC coaches. The fare structure for the ‘Special Trains’ shall be as applicable for the regular time-tabled Rajdhani trains.
Railways has also further restricted advance reservations, with prior bookings allowed for a maximum of 7 days and current booking, tatkal and premium tatkal booking not being allowed permitted.
As far as the cancellation of tickets is concerned, only online cancellation will be permitted and that too up to 24hrs before the scheduled departure of the train, with the cancellation charges being 50 per cent of the fare
Provision for pre-paid meal booking, e-catering have been disabled by the railways, however, IRCTC will make provision for limited eatables and packaged drinking water on payment basis,
To further ensure minimum contact between passengers and train crew, no blankets and linens will be provided on the train.
