Over 1.5 lakh book tickets for journeys by special trains over next seven days: Rlys

Over 1.5 lakh passengers have booked tickets to travel on the 15 pairs of special trains to be operated over the next seven days, the railways said Tuesday. While three trains departed from the national capital on Tuesday, five started their journeys towards it. Around 8,000 passengers traveled on these eight trains that marked the resumption of passenger rail services since they were disrupted on March 25 due to the coronavirus-induced lockdown.

The bookings for these special trains began at 6 pm on Monday. So far, 90,331 bookings (PNRs) have been generated for the next seven days, the railways said, adding that 1,69,039 passengers will travel against these bookings. The railways issued guidelines on Monday for 15 special trains, which will be operated from Tuesday, asking the passengers to carry their own food and linen, and arrive at the stations at least 90 minutes before departure for a health screening.

On Tuesday, the national transporter said installing the Aarogya Setu mobile application was mandatory for the passengers. The railways operated eight trains on Tuesday -- three from New Delhi terminating at Dibrugarh, Bengaluru and Bilaspur, and one each from Howrah, Rajendra Nagar (Patna), Bengaluru, Mumbai Central and Ahmedabad which will terminate at Delhi.

All special trains will only have air-conditioned coaches. Since the trains will be operated amidst the ongoing nationwide lockdown, only the passengers with confirmed e-tickets will be allowed to enter the stations.

The fares of these trains will be equivalent to that of the Rajdhani trains and passengers can book tickets up to seven days in advance. However, no RAC, wait-list ticket or on-board booking by the ticket-checking staff will be permitted, the railways said. The national transporter had suspended its passenger services over 50 days back in view of the lockdown imposed to check the spread of coronavirus.

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