Railways restores pre-Covid fares, drops 'special train' tag

Passengers travelling on special trains were required to pay 30 per cent extra fares

The Indian Railways on Friday issued an order to discontinue the 'special' tag for mail and express trains and revert to pre-Covid-19 ticket prices with immediate effect.

This means travellers will have to shell out lesser for fares in regular trains than they did in special trains. Fares for special trains went up 30 per cent over normal fares in some categories.

"All the regular time-tabled trains which are presently operating as MSPC ( Mail/Express Spl) and HSP (Holiday Spl) train services, including in the working Time Table 2021, shall be operated with regular numbers and with fare and categorisation as applicable," the Railway Board said in a letter.

"Though the Ministry issued instructions to implement it earliest, due to technical reasons it may take few days to execute this as software needs change," a Railways official said.

Also Read | Railways plans to reintroduce unreserved coaches

However, the order did not mention if the concessions, which were discontinued in the special trains, would be reinstated.

At present, Railways operates around 1,700 trains across the country under 'special trains' tag, with train number starting 0 (zero) with higher fare. Once the 'special' category tag has been removed, the 0 (zero) will be removed from the train number and fares will go back to the pre-Covid-19 period, said the official.

Since the coronavirus-triggered lockdown was eased, the Railways has been running only special trains. It started with long-distance trains and now, even short-distance passenger services are being run as special trains with "slightly higher fares" to "discourage people from avoidable travels".

As Covid-19 cases have come down in the country, the government decided to restore regular train operations with pre-Covid fares, another Railways official said.

The order, however, did not specify when the zonal railways are required to revert to their pre-Covid regular services.

For tickets that have already been booked in advance, no difference of fare will be collected by the Railways or be refunded.

(With agency inputs)

Check out the latest DH videos here: