30% tickets booked in June 1 special trains: VK Yadav

• Only 30% tickets booked of special trains to be operated from 1 June booked, 190 trains still have availability- VK Yadav

• 200 mail express starting June 1 are separate from those 30 AC trains that are already running from May 12

New Delhi: Indian Railways is going to run 200 mail express trains from June 1 onwards in order to ease off the problems people facing in travel. These 200 trains are separate from those 30 AC trains that are already running from May 12. "Passenger train operations are gradually resuming. The 200 trains were announced based on the demand pattern, We are continuously monitoring the ticket booking, over 17 lakh passengers have booked tickets, some trains have seen 90-100% booking. We will introduce more trains based on demand on routes," informed Railway Board chairman in a press conference on Saturday. To facilitate bookings the Railways has opened its reservation counters at select stations for booking of only reserved tickets for these trains.

The ticket fare for these 200 special trains is the same as pre-lockdown period, however, senior citizens' concession has not been allowed in order to prevent unnecessary travel, said Yadav. Online booking of tickets for these trains is being done through IRCTC website or through the mobile app. Indian Railways has also allowed booking of reservation tickets through the reservation counters, Common Service Centers (CSCs) and ticketing agents.

About the Shramik special trains, the Railways board chairman said that several Shramik special services are planned in the coming days. In the next 10 days as many as 2,600 Shramik special trains will run ferrying around 36 lakh passengers. "Till day over 2,000 Shramik special trains have run carrying over 35 lakh passengers to their destination states, we are bearing 85% of the cost of running the Shramik special trains," Yadav added.

The Advance Reservation Period for these trains is 30 days and RAC is permitted but no passenger who is on the waiting list will be allowed to board these trains. Also, there will be no unreserved coaches in these trains. Usual standards of wearing a face mask, Aarogya Setu app, screening of the passengers will be followed at the station. Goes without saying that only asymptomatic passengers will be allowed to travel.

The bookings for these trains have commenced from 21 May.