Image Credit: India TV
The Railways on Sunday announced that it has decided for the gradual resumption of passenger train services but existing Shramik special trains will continue to run as per current system on the request of the concerned state governments. Passenger train operations will resume from Tuesday (12th May), initially with 15 pairs of trains.
According to the official Railway circular, these trains will be run as special trains from New Delhi Station connecting Dibrugarh, Agartala, Howrah, Patna, Bilaspur, Ranchi, Bhubaneswar, Secunderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram, Madgaon, Mumbai Central, Ahmedabad and Jammu Tawi. Thereafter, more special services will be started on new routes, based on the available coaches. Further details including train schedule will be issued separately by Railways.
Due to the coronavirus crisis in the country, booking for reservation in these trains will be online only. Ticket booking counters at the railway stations shall remain closed and no counter tickets (including platform tickets) shall be issued.
Step 1: Register as an individual and log in by entering your username and password. On the “Book Your Ticket” page, provide your desired From – To station, Date of Journey and Class of travel. (In case, you do not have any fixed date of journey, select “Flexible with Date” option.)
Step 2: To find train list, click on “Find trains” option and the next page will display the list of trains available for the selected route. If you wish to know the route and the timings, click on the train name. To select the train from the train list, click on the type of class available in the selected train.
Step 3: To get the availability and fare, click on “check availability & fare” tab. It will show fare according to the type of class selected. The fare appearing will be for a single adult passenger. To book a ticket in the selected train, click on the “Book Now” button.
Step 4: Passenger reservation page will appear. Check whether the train name, station names, class and journey date displayed at the left side of the page are same as desired by you. Enter the names of the passengers, age, gender, berth preference and food choice for each passenger. The maximum length of names should be restricted to 16 characters.
Step 5: Enter the passenger mobile number to receive the booking and cancellation free SMS and then click on the ‘Next’ button. After providing correct details, click on Continue Booking button. To change any details related to Train-Class, Quota, “Replan Booking” button may be used. The ticket details, total fare (including GST & Convenience Fee) and availability of berths at the particular time will appear on the screen.
Step 6: After checking all details, click on ‘Continue Booking’ button for the payment process. All payment options are grouped under specific categories (viz. Credit cards, Net Banking, Wallets and Multiple payment service etc. Select the desired payment option from the displayed Payment Gateway menus on the left side.
Step 7: Click on the “Make Payment” button for redirection to the selected bank website. After successful payment and booking of accommodations, Ticket Confirmation Page will appear. Also, Virtual reservation message (VRM) in the form of SMS will be sent on mobile number (as provided in the passenger reservation form).
Ticket booking for these special passenger trains will start at 4 pm on 11th May and will be available only on the IRCTC website (https://www.irctc.co.in/).
Only passengers with valid confirmed tickets will be allowed to enter the railway stations.
It will be mandatory for the passengers to wear face cover and undergo screening at departure.
Only asymptomatic passengers will be allowed to board the train.