IRCTC Special Trains: Rail ticket cost, waiting list, cancellation refund policy; everything you need to know

All you need to know about trains, tickets rules, guidelines and more

How many trains are running and to which destinations?

What’s the frequency of these special trains?

Initially, the Railways will run 15 pairs (30 return journeys) of air-conditioned “special trains”, modelled on the Rajdhani, connecting 15 major cities with New Delhi. Eight of these (16 return journeys) from New Delhi to Mumbai, Patna, Kolkata, Dibrugarh, Jammu Tawi, Bengaluru, Ahmedabad and Bhubaneswar, will run daily.

The services from New Delhi to Agartala and Secunderabad will be once a week; from New Delhi to Madgaon, Ranchi, Bilaspur and Chennai twice a week; and to Thiruvananthapuram thrice a week. The tickets for the 15 trains can be booked only on the IRCTC website.

Of the 30 round trips selected, trains to Howrah, Patna, Jammu, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Bhubaneswar, Bengaluru and Dibrugarh will run daily. The rest will be either once, twice or thrice a week. The timings are more or less the same as the usual Rajdhanis to these destinations.

New Delhi Railway Station Wednesday, the second day of the Railways resuming its passenger services. (Express photo: Amit Mehra)

Are they any guidelines for passengers on the waiting list?

With mounting pressure to accommodate more passengers on the 30 odd trains plying to and from Delhi, the Railways has decided to allow limited waiting lists in the special trains and announced that more special trains “will be notified in due course”.

The Railway Board sent the instructions to its zones in which it has said that for the special Rajdhanis and the ones that will be notified, will now have waiting lists of up to 100 for AC 3 tier, 50 for AC 2 tier, 200 for Sleeper class, 100 for chair cars, and 20 each for First AC and Executive Class– truncating the queues for confirmed tickets significantly. The changes will be applicable for trains running from May 22 onwards for which bookings will open on May 15.

Will Railways give a refund if a passenger is barred from boarding after showing Covid symptoms? 

Yes. The Railways has decided to refund the full fair of tickets if a passenger is barred from boarding the train after showing symptoms of coronavirus.

What’s the significance of this guideline for waiting lists?

The significance of this communication is that it defines waiting list limits for lower classes as well indicating that plans may be afoot to pump in trains with mixed classes like Sleepers, chair cars etc in other routes.

How many people have travelled on these special trains till date?

As of May 13, over 19,000 passengers travelled by these special trains. Till date, 1.12 lakh tickets have been booked to carry over 2 lakh people in these trains.

What’s the capacity of Shramik Specials?

The capacity of Shramik Specials has also been raised now to full, to around 1,600 from 1,200.

Is Aarogya setu app mandatory to board trains?

In a sudden decision that left many of its key officials off guard, the Railways on Tuesday became the country’s first transport entity to make Aarogya Setu, the government’s contact-tracing app, mandatory for travel.

Sources told The Indian Express that the decision took key officials by surprise Tuesday morning as there had been no discussions about making the app a precondition to travel on Monday, a day before 15 Rajdhani-type trains resumed passenger operations to and from Delhi. The decision was communicated verbally to zones hours before the first set of trains departed, officials said. The IRCTC website started flashing the message and even sent messages to ticket holders. The app, however, was not mandatory for those travelling by Shramik Special trains, a Railways spokesperson said.

An official of the publicity department said passengers who did not have the app on their phones would be helped by railway functionaries at stations and trains to download. Officials said there were no cases on Tuesday of passengers being denied travel for not having the app on their phones.

Civil society activists have, however, raised privacy-related concerns regarding use of the app, a charge the government has denied.

Will the train provide food during journey? 

As reported earlier, the passengers on board the trains would be required to bring own food and blankets, reach the station 90 minutes prior to departure, and keep their masks on. The passengers will also be “advised” to have the Aarogya Setu app on their phones, though it is not a precondition to travel.

While the 15 trains have been designated Special Rajdhanis, with premium fares and speed, pre-packed snacks, biscuits and water bottles will be available on board only against payment, like in budget airlines. The food charge hence won’t be built into the fares, unlike in Rajdhanis. Since some of the journeys are longer than 24 hours and the lockdown means stalls at stations will be shut, officials said passengers are advised to bring food from home.

Will bed sheets, blankets be provided on board? What about Air-Conditioner?

No. The Railways won’t be supplying linen — pillow, sheets and blanket — while keeping the on-board temperature a little higher for comfort. This is also in line with apprehension that an air-conditioned environment can ease the spread of the virus. The Railways has modified the temperature to be maintained following discussions with own health professionals as well the Health Ministry, sources said. It has also been decided that the A-C in the coach will refresh the air 12 times an hour, which officials said was akin to what was being followed in international trains, like in China, following Covid-19.

What are some of the steps Railways is taking to ensure screening of passengers before boarding?

Passengers will be given hand sanitisers on entry and exit and allowed to enter stations only if they don’t display symptoms and clear thermal screening. This is why the direction to reach the station 90 minutes before departure.

What about the cleanliness onboard the trains?

The trains will not have onboard housekeeping staff owing to the scarcity of contractual labour amid the restrictions. Passengers will be advised by onboard staff to keep the coaches clean, officials said.

What are the other measures Railways is taking to monitor the spread of coronavirus? 

With effect from May 13, IRCTC has started taking the “destination” address of all passengers booking tickets. This will help in contact tracing, if required later.

Can all passengers book tickets through ticket windows?

While the Railways had earlier said that reservation counters would not open, it said on Monday that pass-holders like parliamentarians, its officials, freedom fighters and the physically challenged, patients and students could book at the ticket windows, though only a “bare minimum” such windows will open.