All express trains, including holiday specials to run as fully reserved only: Ministry of Railways

The Ministry of Railways on Sunday refuted media reports on the issuance of unreserved tickets. “There has been NO change in policy to run all express trains including festival specials and clone specials as fully reserved train ONLY as yet,” the Ministry said in a statement.

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Till further notice, the existing mail express special trains including festival/holiday specials, clone specials which are running on fully reserved basis shall be continued as fully reserved only, the statement read.

This includes the issuance of reserved tickets for second class coaches and passenger portion of SLRs.

“Permission given to Zonal Railways to issue unreserved tickets is meant ONLY for suburban and limited no of local passenger trains operating on few zones,” the Ministry’s statement read.

Currently, the Railways is running 736 special trains, 200 services of the Kolkata Metro, over 2,000 Mumbai suburban services, and 20 special clone trains, according to livemint. Passenger train services remain suspended since the coronavirus-induced lockdown was imposed on March 24.

“Running of trains, norms of travel and reservations are constantly evolving under COVID times,” the Ministry said.

“Further changes, as and when they happen, would be informed to all concerned accordingly,” it added.