The Ministry of Indian Railways has announced that all 30 passenger trains under the special category and Shramik special that commenced the services from May 12th were suspended and further notice of the resumption is awaited.
The announcement solely applies to travel tickets booked before March 25 for travel on or before June 30 2020 will be cancelled and a full refund will be given back to the customers. Claims of all the refunds must be registered online as ticketing counters will remain closed amid lockdown, railways reported.
Nonetheless, functioning of special trains laid for the purpose of the repatriation of stranded migrant workers will remain unperturbed. 15 special interstate passengers trains that continued operation since May 12th shall also run continuously without any modifications. The latest declaration by the railway ministry is not applicable to the afore-mentioned train services.
With this new rule enforced from May 13, the IRCTC administration made sure to not create any inconsistencies in reporting the number of booked tickets by the passengers. Owing to this the ministry offficals began to take the travel destinations and where abouts of the citizens booked for their train travel. The railways stated that a new provision is in the pipeline to make this tracing process effective and hassle free.
In the wee hours on Wednesday, the Railway Board issued a new order enforcing the allocation of waiting lists commencing from May 22nd for journeys not only on its special trains that resumed operations but also on all its upcoming services. The new modifications in guidelines will be implemented for tickets booked from May 15th for travel beginning from May 22nd.