Union Minister of Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw in an interview on Friday said that soon the Railways Ministry will issue an order to halt the operations of special trains and the normal fare will be applicable on regular trains.
Vaishnaw also said that nearly 95% of the express trains are back on track and 25% of these trains are still being operated under the “special category”.
“The passengers travelling on these trains are required to pay 30 percent extra fares. Now, the ministry has decided that it will halt these special trains soon.”
It must be noted that the Indian Railways has been operating special trains with full reservation across the country ever since the coronavirus pandemic wreaked the nation.
Passengers traveling in these special trains have to pay 30 percent extra fare as compared to the normal trains.
Around 1700 mail express trains were running before Covid and they had to be halted due to the pandemic, but the railway administration has resumed most of these trains.
About 3500 passenger trains were running before the Corona crisis. That number is still low at around 1000 passenger trains that are currently operational.
Minister Vaishnaw said, “The railways had started operation of trains in special categories under covid protocols. Our purpose was to control and limit the crowd in trains. At present, 95 percent of mail express trains have returned on track and about 25 percent of these trains are running under a special category.
“Apart from this, about 70 percent passenger trains have been given the status of mail express due to which the passengers have to pay more fare to travel in these trains,” he added
The Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw also said that the order issued during the Covid-19 will be withdrawn to facilitate the public.
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