No over the counter tickets, no prepaid meals: Indian Railways set to run 200 trains from June 1

Hyderabad: Trains are all set to chug again as Ministry of Railways has decided to resume operations from June 1.

Nearly 200 passenger AC/Non-AC trains will hit the tracks from June 1, 2020. The ministry on Wednesday released a list of 100 trains along with a set of guidelines for Inter-state travel.

These trains shall run from June 1 and the booking will commence from 10 am on May 21.

These trains are in addition to the existing Shramik Specials which are running since May 1 and 30 Special AC trains being run since May 12.

Ministry of Railways (MoR) in consultation with the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoHFW) and Ministry of Home Affairs(MHA) has decided to partially restore train services.

The special trains will be fully reserved trains having both AC and sleeper/second sitting classes. There will be no unreserved coaches in these trains. All General (GS) coaches shall also have seats reserved for sitting.

The fares shall be as normal and existing and for General (GS) coaches, being reserved, second seating (2S) fare shall be charged. Tickets can be booked only through E-Ticketing by logging in to IRCTC website or Mobile App.

No tickets will be booked across the reservation counter on any Railway Station. Booking of tickets through ‘agents’, is not be permitted. The Advance Reservation Period (ARP) is a maximum 30 days. Passengers with only confirmed tickets will be allowed to enter the Railway station.

According to the Indian Railways, screening shall be done before boarding and only asymptomatic passengers will be allowed to enter /board the train. Concessions for four categories of Divyangjan concession and 11 categories of patient concessions are permitted in these special trains.

Railways will run 200 fully reserved trains with AC/Non-AC coaches, wef 1st june

Tickets can only be booked online, 30 days advance

All coaches including General coach will be fully reserved

E-ticket booking on IRCTC website starts at 10 am on 21st Mayhttps://t.co/hsXjIkzpby

— Ministry of Railways (@RailMinIndia) May 20, 2020

The traveling passengers will have to adhere to health protocols as prescribed by the destination state/UT on arrival at their destination. No Linen, blankets, and curtains will be provided inside the train

These special trains will be fully reserved having both AC & Non AC classes. General (GS) coaches will also have reserved seats for seating. There will be no unreserved coaches.

As per MHA guidelines, the movement of the passengers, as well as the driver of the vehicle transporting the passengers to and fro the Railway Station, shall be allowed on the basis of the confirmed e-ticket. Other regular Passenger services including all mail/express, passenger and suburban services will remain canceled until further notice.

Guidelines by Indian Railways:

Booking of Tickets & Charting:

i. Only online E-Ticketing will be done through IRCTC website or through Mobile App. No tickets will be booked across the reservation counter on any Railway Station.

ii.The ARP (advance reservation period) shall be maximum of 30 days.

iii.RAC and Wait list will be generated as per extant rules. However, waiting list ticket holders shall not be permitted to board the train.

iv.No unreserved (UTS) tickets will be issued and no tickets will be issued onboard to any passenger during the journey.

v. No tatkal and premium tatkal booking shall be permitted in these trains.

vi.First chart shall be prepared at least 4 hours before scheduled departure and the second chart shall be prepared at least 2 hours((unlike the present practice of 30 minutes) before scheduled departure. The only online current booking shall be permitted in between first and second chart preparation.

vii. All passengers shall be compulsorily screened and only asymptomatic passengers are allowed to enter /board the train.

viii. Passengers traveling by these special services will observe the following precautions :

1. Only passengers with Confirmed tickets shall be allowed to enter the Railway station.

2. All passengers must wear face covers/masks at the entry and during travel.

3.The passengers shall reach the station at least 90 minutes in advance to facilitate thermal screening at the station. Only passengers who are found asymptomatic will be permitted to travel.

4.Passengers shall observe social distancing both at the station and on trains.

5.On arrival at their destination, the traveling passengers will have to adhere to such health protocols as are prescribed by the destination state/UT

Quota Permitted:

All quotas shall be permitted on these special trains like the Regular trains. A limited number of reservation (PRS) counters shall be operated for this purpose. However, normal ticket booking cannot be done through these counters.

Concessions: Only four categories of Divyangjan concession and 11 categories of patient concessions are permitted in these special trains.

Cancellation and Refund rule: Railway Passengers (Cancellation of Ticket and Refund of Fare) Rules, 2015 shall be applicable.

In addition, the refund of fare in case passenger is not found fit for traveling due to symptoms of Corona shall remain applicable.

As per MHA guidelines, all passengers shall be compulsorily screened and only asymptomatic passengers shall be allowed to enter/board the train.

If during screening a passenger has a very high temperature/symptoms of Covid-19 etc., he shall not be allowed to travel despite having confirmed tickets. In such case full refund shall be provided to the passenger as under:-

(i)On PNR having single passenger.

(ii)On a party ticket if one passenger is found unfit to travel and also all other passengers on the same PNR do not want to travel in that case full refund shall be granted for all passengers.

(iii)On a party ticket if one passenger is found unfit to travel however other passengers on the PNR want to travel in that case full refund of fare shall be granted to a passenger who was not allowed to travel.

For all the above cases, TTE certificates as per extant practice shall be issued to the passenger at the entry/checking/screening point itself mentioning “Number of passengers not traveled due to symptoms of COVID 19 in one or more passengers”

After getting TTE certificates, online TDR shall be filed for refund of not traveled passengers, within 10 days from the date of journey and the original

TTE certificate issued shall be sent by the passenger to IRCTC as per existent provision and full fare for the part passenger/full who have not traveled shall be refunded by IRCTC in the customer’s account.

For the above purpose, CRIS and IRCTC shall make necessary changes for filing of TDR for non-traveling passengers due to COVID-19 symptoms. One option ‘part/full passenger not allowed to travel by Railways due to very high temperature/COVID-19 symptoms’ will be available.

Catering:

No catering charges shall be included in the fare. Provision for pre-paid meal booking, e-catering shall be disabled. However, IRCTC shall make provision for limited eatables and packaged drinking water on a payment basis only in limited trains, having a Pantry car attached. Information to this effect shall be made available to passengers during the time of booking ticket.

Passengers are encouraged to carry their own food and drinking water.

All static catering and vending units (Multi-Purpose stalls, Bookstalls, Misc./Chemist stalls, etc) at Railway stations will remain open. In the case of Food Plaza and Refreshments rooms etc, cooked items may be served as takeaway only with no sit-down eating arrangements in place.

Linen and Blanket:

No Linen, blankets, and curtains shall be provided inside the train. Passengers are advised to carry their own linen for the travel. The temperature inside AC coaches shall be suitably regulated for this purpose.

Zonal Railways have been instructed to ensure that there are separate entry and exit gates at Railway stations to the extent feasible so that there is no face to face movement of passengers. Zonal railways will be guided by standard social distancing guidelines on stations and trains and observe the safety, security, and hygiene protocols.

All passengers must download and use the Aarogya Setu application. Passengers are advised to travel light.