Railways Issues Guidelines For Passengers Of Special Trains

Indian Railways have partially restored passenger train services from today and 2 pairs of Special Trains will be operated from New Delhi to Dibrugarh and Agartala respectively. While the service to Dibrugarh will be a daily service, the Special Train to Agartala will run once-in-a-week.

These special trains have only AC First class, AC 2 tier & AC 3 tier coaches with limited stoppages as have already been notified and the fare structure is the same as that of Rajdhani Express trains (without catering charges). Other regular Passenger services including all Mail/Express, passenger, and suburban services shall remain canceled until further advice.

As informed via an official statement, the Ministry of Railway has said that Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) has been put into operation for these trains which the travelers should be aware of before embarking on any journey in these trains. Only online E-Ticketing can be done through the IRCTC website or through Mobile App. Booking of tickets through 'agents' (both IRCTC Agents and Railway Agents) shall not be permitted. Only confirmed e-tickets shall be issued and no RAC/Waiting list ticket and onboard booking by ticket checking staff shall be permitted. Current booking, Tatkal, and Premium Tatkal booking shall not be permitted. Advance Reservation Period (ARP) will be limited to only 7 days.

Online cancellation shall be permitted up to 24hrs before the scheduled departure of train; thereafter no cancellation will be permitted. The cancellation charge shall be 50% of the fare. Charges for food are not included in the fare of these trains and hence there will be no catering services. But, IRCTC will provide dry, ready-to-eat food and packaged drinking water on payment. No linen, blankets, and curtains will be provided and the temperature of the coaches will be adjusted accordingly. No stalls/ booths on the platforms shall be opened and no train-side vending would be permitted.

Ministry of Home Affairs has issued guidelines that the movement of passenger(s), as well as the driver of the vehicle transporting the passenger(s) to and fro the Railway Station, shall be allowed on the basis of the confirmed e-ticket. All passengers need to reach the station for at least 90 minutes in advance. Only passengers with confirmed tickets shall be allowed to enter the Railway station. Passengers shall be subjected to thermal screening at the station. Only those passengers who are found asymptomatic will be permitted to travel.

All passengers shall be provided with sanitizers at entry and exit. No person other than passengers shall be allowed into the station and no platform tickets shall be issued. Passengers should travel with minimum luggage and wear face covers/masks at the stations and trains during travel. Passengers shall observe social distancing both at the station and on trains. All passengers are advised to download and use the Aarogya Setu application before undertaking the journey.

As informed by the official statement, it was mentioned that on the arrival of the passengers at their destination, they will have to adhere to prevailing health protocols of the destination state.