New Delhi : On Friday, the Indian Railways has announced their decision of resuming pre-covid regular train services with pre-covid regular fare. They have decided to discontinue the ‘special tag.’ This comes amid huge pressure from passengers over hike of fares. All the mail and express services will resume with pre-pandemic ticket prices with immediate effect.
COVID has hit these services deeply and since lockdown trains were shut. Once the lockdown was eased, few trains were running under ‘special tag’ with a hike in price. This move was a much needed one, and is a big relief to commuters nearly 20 months after the pandemic disrupted its operations.
As per the circular issued by the railway board, trains will run with their usual names, numbers and fares as applicable for the concerned travel classes and type of train. The decision is expected to bring down the present ticket prices by up to 30%.
“Ministry of Railways have decided that all the regular timetabled trains which are presently operating as MSPC (mail/express special) & HSP (holiday special) train services, included in the working time table,2021, shall be operated with regular numbers and with fare and categorisations applicable,” the Railway Board said in a letter to the principal chief commercial managers.
Adding on the board said that the second class of such trains (mail or express) shall continue to run as reserved except for any relaxation permitted in special cases.
“On already booked tickets in advance, no difference of fare either to be collected by Railways or any refund due to already booked passengers shall be permitted,” the board added.
Railways used to operate around 1,700 mail or express trains in the pre-covid era. these services witnessed a hald due to lockdown. However, the Railways started several train services, tagging them as special during the unlock process. Thus, the fares were also increased by up to 30%.
Since it takes two to three days for the Centre for Railways Information Systems (CRIS) to make the required changes in its software, the implementation of the new decision may materialise post the completion of the upgradation process.
The Railways has also clarified that it will neither charge any additional charge nor would give any refund on the already booked tickets.
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