New Delhi: A letter sent by the Railway Board to zonal railways on Friday stated that around 1,700 long-distance mail/express trains will resume operations within a few days, reported PTI.
Following the notification, trains running with “special” status with additional charges will also cease. All the trains are currently running as special trains and 19 percent of them are charging 30 percent more fare than others. After this notification, all the fares will return to normal prices as before the pr-covid time.
"In view of the COVID-19 pandemic, all regular mail/express trains were being operated as MSPC (mail/express special) and HSP (holiday special). It has now been decided that the MSPC and HSP train services, included in the Working Time Table, 2021, shall be operated with regular numbers and with fares as applicable for the concerned classes of travel and type of train, as per the extant guidelines.
In view of the Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdown, passenger train operations were halted in March 2020. The services were gradually resumed in May 2020 in phase-wise manner. These were all-AC Rajdhani Trains that resumed services on May 12, 2020, which were running as special trains with increased fares.
An official spokesperson of the Ministry said that while trains are being run at pre-pandemic levels now, the restrictions related to Cobid-19 inside the train will remain in place. The spokesperson further said that the general seating class will continue to be treated as a reserved class.
The letter has not specified the exact dates when it will come into effect. "The zonal railways have been instructed. While the order is with immediate effect, the process will take a day or two," a senior official said.