The railways have cancelled all tickets booked till June 30 and promised full refund to all the affected passengers. However, the Shramik Specials or the 15 pairs of ‘special trains’ that were started on May 12 will continue.
As per the railways, a total of 800 Shramik Specials have been run from various States till May 14, ferrying over 10 lakh passengers. Additionally, for the ‘special trains’, so far over 1.25 lakh tickets worth Rs 45.30 crore have been booked for more than 2.34 passengers.
The regular passenger trains booking that have been cancelled are mainly those booked either before or after the lockdown.
In April, the railways announced that advance reservation, including e-tickets, would not be allowed “till further notice”.
“...Regular passenger service including Mail/Express, Passenger and Suburban services have been cancelled until further advice... Competent authority has desired that all tickets booked for the above trains for the period up to June 30, 2020 may be cancelled and full refund generated as per provisions…,” a railways order said.
The railways suspended mostly all passenger services March 22 onwards. However, as part of efforts to gradually restart such operations, it announced earlier this month that 15 pairs of ‘special trains’, meaning a total of 30 return journeys, would be run to and from New Delhi.
As per data from the railways, 20,149 people travelled through the ‘special trains’ on May 13 and the number went up to 25,737 the next day.
For the Shramik Specials, the railways said they were being run only after concurrence was given both by the State which was sending the passengers and the State that was receiving them.
These 800 trains were terminated in various States like Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Mizoram, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal.
As per data from the Railways, 20,149 people travelled through the special trains on May 13 and the number went up to 25,737 the next day.
For the Shramik Specials, the Railways said they were being run only after concurrence was given both by the State which was sending the passengers and the State that was receiving them.
These 800 trains were terminated in various States like Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Mizoram, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal.
