As the country’s holiday season approaches in the wake of the novel coronavirus pandemic, the Ministry of Railways on Tuesday approved Zonal Railways’ proposal for the operation of an additional 196 pairs (392 trains) of Festival Special trains. The trains will run between October 20 and November 30.
The applicable fare for these services will be that of previous special trains authorized by the ministry, Indian Railways said. The timetable for these trains will be that of regular trains.
Zonal Railways will notify its schedule well in advance, the ministry said in a statement.
The ministry said in a statement that the decision was made because Indian Railways expects a rush of passengers during the upcoming holiday season. These special trains will run to destinations such as Kolkata, Patna, Varanasi and Lucknow, among others, to meet demand during Durga Puja, Dussehra, Diwali and Chhatt puja, he said.
So far, the railroads have put into service more than 300 mail / express trains that now run regularly throughout the country.
However, these new festival special trains will operate only until November 30 and will not run continuously, authorities said.
In an order issued Tuesday, the Railroad Board said these special festival trains will operate at a speed of 55 km / h.
Here’s a complete list of the festival’s 196 pairs of special trains:
Accordingly, the ticket reservation function will be available both online (via the IRCTC website) and at PRS ticket counters.
The Railways had suspended all passenger train services due to the imposition of a nationwide shutdown effective March 25. However, it resumed services in a staggered fashion, with Shramik Special trains to help stranded migrant workers reach their home states starting May 1.
Subsequently, it launched 230 special trains across the country, followed by another 80 special trains as of September 12, the additional trains were announced taking into account the COVID-19 situation, and also to allow the reverse migration of workers. to urban areas for work the country that enters the Unblocking 4.0
The national carrier also recently started operating clone trains on its network. Initially, a total of 40 (20 pairs) of trains will operate on the Indian railway network, which has seen high demand for passenger traffic.
The main feature of the clone trains will be that these trains will have fewer stops and will also run faster than the original train.
Clone trains are a boon for rail passengers and the problem of not getting tickets on busy routes can be reduced with the introduction of clone trains.
This month, the Railroad Board also approved zones for 39 additional special trains. These services will be introduced as special services from an early convenient date, the Ministry of Railways said.
Most of the trains belong to the category of AC Express, Duronto, Rajdhani and Shatabdi. The government has not yet declared the date of operation for these additional trains.
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