According to the Railway Ministry, these IRCTC special trains shall be in addition to the existing Shramik Special trains being operated since 1 May 2020 as well as Special AC trains (30 trains) being run since 12 May 2020.

IRCTC special trains from June 1 ticket booking, cancellation, tatkal tickets, waitlisting & refund rules: Indian Railways will start operations of as many as 200 passenger train services, which will run from 1 June 2020 and ticket booking of these trains commenced from 10:00 AM on 21 May 2020. According to the Railway Ministry, these IRCTC special trains shall be in addition to the existing Shramik Special trains being operated since 1 May 2020 as well as Special AC trains (30 trains) being run since 12 May 2020. However, other regular passenger train services including all Mail/Express trains, suburban trains, passenger services will remain cancelled due to the COVID-19 outbreak until further advice.

IRCTC 200 special trains: Ticket booking, tatkal tickets, cancellation & refund rules

IRCTC ticket booking can be done only through the IRCTC website or IRCTC mobile application. Tickets for these trains will not be booked across the station’s reservation counter. Besides, ticket booking through IRCTC or Railway agents is not allowed as of now. However, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal has indicated that railway counters may open at select stations in the next 2-3 days.

According to the ministry, the advance reservation period will be maximum for a period of 30 days.

As per extant rules, RAC, as well as Waitlist, will be generated. However, waiting list ticket holders will not be allowed to board the train.

For these passenger train services, tatkal and premium tatkal booking will not be permitted.

For these trains, UTS tickets will not be issued and also, during the journey, tickets will not be issued onboard to any passenger.

At least four hours before the train’s scheduled departure, the first chart will be prepared, while the second chart will be prepared at least two hours before the train’s scheduled departure. Moreover, online current booking will be allowed in between the first chart preparation and the second chart preparation.

For these train services, Cancellation of Ticket and Refund of Fare rules, 2015 will be applicable.

If during the screening at the station, a person is found to have a very high temperature or novel coronavirus symptoms, he/she will not be permitted to board the train despite having confirmed ticket. However, full refund will be granted to the passenger as under:

i) On PNR (passenger name record) having a single passenger.

ii) If a passenger is found unfit to commence the journey, on a party ticket, and all other passengers on the same PNR also do not wish to commence the journey, then full refund will be granted to all of them.

iii) If a passenger is found unfit to commence the journey, on a party ticket, while others on the same PNR wish to travel, then refund will only be granted to that passenger who was not allowed to travel.

TTE certificates will be issued to passengers at the entry/screening/checking point itself mentioning the number of passengers not travelled due to novel coronavirus symptoms in one or more passengers. After receiving the TTE certificates at the station, online TDR has to be filed of not travelled passengers for the refund, within a duration of ten days from the date of journey. The original TTE certificate issued will have to be sent to IRCTC by the passenger and full fare for the part passenger/full who have not commenced the train journey will be refunded in the customer’s account.

Compulsorily screened will be done and only those who are found to be asymptomatic will be allowed to board the train.

Those who are travelling by these special passenger train services will observe the following precautions:

i) Only those with confirmed train tickets will be able to enter the station.

ii) At the entry as well as during travel, passengers will have to wear face covers/masks.

iii) For thermal screening at the station, passengers will have to reach the railway station at least 1 hour 30 minutes in advance.

iv) All travelling passengers will have to observe social distancing norms both at the railway station and on trains.