Railways to introduce 200 more trains during festive season: V K Yadav

Indian Railways is planning to introduce 200 special trains between October 15 and November 30 to meet the demand during the festive season.

“We have conducted meetings with the general managers of zones and instructed them to speak with local administration and review the status of coronavirus. They have been asked to give us a report after which we will decide how many trains can be introduced during the holiday season. Our estimate as of now is that we will run around 200 trains, but it is an estimate, the number could be more,” Railway Board Chairman V K Yadav told reporters here.

"The railways is taking stock of passenger train services on a daily basis. Depending on the needs and state governments' request, the railways will take decision on operating more trains," he said.

On clone trains, he said at present these trains run on 60% capacity. Wherever the clone train has long waiting list, another clone train will be operated on same route to meet the demand, he said.

The Railways has currently suspended all regular passenger trains indefinitely. Regular trains have remained suspended since March 22.

It started operations of 15 pairs of premium Rajdhani special trains connecting Delhi with different parts of the country on May 12, and 100 pairs of long-distance trains on June 1. It also started 80 trains additionally on September 12.