However, the fares were increased by nearly 30% for passengers boarding special trains in order to discourage travel.
The Indian Railways will resume normal passenger train operations and will remove the ‘special’ tag for mail and express trains.
It will also revert to pre-pandemic ticket prices with immediate effect which should bring down fares by 15%.
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Background
Ever since the lockdowns were imposed in March last year, operations of all passenger trains were halted.
But they soon restarted after travel restrictions were eased by both central and state governments.
However, the fares were increased by nearly 30% for passengers boarding special trains in order to discourage travel.
So now that the special status is being removed from these trains, the fares will also go back to pre pandemic levels.
Other Changes
1700 such trains will be changed from ‘special’ and will see reduction in fares in the coming days.
The railways has also informed that the second class of such trains will continue to run as reserved except for any relaxation permitted in a special case.
For advanced bookings, no difference of fare either is to be collected by Railways or any refund shall be permitted.
However, there is no official word on when the zonal railways have to revert to their pre-Covid regular services.
Some Of The Affected Trains
Over 24 trains affected by the decision ply to and from Nagpur and several others will be passing through.
These include trains like Vidarbha and Sewagram Express to Mumbai and all trains to Pune including Garib Rath and Hamsafar.
In order to make the transition to pre-pandemic levels of service, the railways’ passenger reservation system (PRS) will be shut down for 6 hours during the lean business hours of the night for the next seven days.
During this period, upgradation of system data and updating of new train numbers etc will take place.
These steps will be implemented during night hours to minimize the impact on ticketing services, said Central Railway chief public relations officer (CPRO) Shivaj Sutar.
The shut down will take place starting from the intervening night of November 14 and 15 to the night of November 20 and 21 starting at 11.30 pm and ending at 5.30 am.
During these periods, PRS services like ticket reservation, current booking, cancellation, inquiry services etc will be unavailable.