IRCTC Special Trains: From today, Indian Railways to start 200 more trains; waitlist, tatkal rules explained

There will be reserved sitting accommodation in the General class coaches and there will be no unreserved coaches on the train

IRCTC Special Trains: From today onwards, Indian Railways is all set to run 200 IRCTC Special trains! In addition to the Shramik Special and Special AC train services, Piyush Goyal-led Indian Railways is starting operations of 200 passenger services from today. According to the Railway Ministry, more than 1.45 lakh passengers will travel on day 1 of 200 trains, starting on 1 June 2020. Thes regular pattern fully reserved trains will comprise of both AC and Non-AC coaches. There will be reserved sitting accommodation in the General class coaches and there will be no unreserved coaches on the train. At 09.00 hours on 31 May 2020, the total passenger bookings were 25,82,671.

IRCTC special trains from June 1: Booking, cancellation, refund rules

1. RAC/Wait list will be generated by Indian Railways as per extant rules.

2. During the journey, no unreserved (UTS) tickets will be issued as well as no tickets will be issued on board.

3. Only fully confirmed and RAC passengers, partially Waitlisted Ticket holders will be allowed, while Waitlisted passengers will not be allowed.

4. The Tatkal tickets can be booked from 9 June 2020 for journey date 30 June 2020 and onwards.

5. Indian Railways will prepare the first chart at least four hours and second chart at least two hours before the train’s scheduled departure.

6. For these Special trains, Railway Passengers (Cancellation of Ticket and Refund of Fare) Rules, 2015 will be applicable.

7. A passenger despite having confirmed tickets will not be allowed to travel if he/she has a very high temperature or symptoms of novel coronavirus. In such cases, full refund will be granted on PNR having single passenger.

8. Full refund will be granted to all passengers, if on a party ticket, one passenger is found unfit and cannot travel as well as all other passengers on the same PNR who do not want to travel.

9. Full refund will be granted to the passenger if on a party ticket, he/she is found unfit and cannot travel while refund will be not be granted to others on the same PNR who want to travel.

10. The charges for catering will not be included in the fare. For these Special train services, provision for pre paid booking of meals, e-catering will be disabled. However, provision for limited food items and packaged water will be made by IRCTC on payment basis only in limited trains with attached pantry car.

Those travelling by these IRCTC special train services, take a look at the following guidelines:

It is mandatory for passengers to wear face covers/masks at the entry and during the journey.
Passengers will have to reach the station 90 minutes in advance in order to facilitate thermal screening. Those passengers who are found to be asymptomatic will be able to board the train. Observing social distancing is a must.
The passengers will have to follow the health protocols that have been prescribed by the destination state/UT, on arriving the destination.
Downloading of Aarogya Setu mobile application is a must.
Inside these trains, linen, blankets and curtains will not be provided.
Tickets can be booked through IRCTC website or app. Also, passengers can visit the reservation counters, Common Service Centers as well as ticketing agents to book their tickets.