Railways resume general class passenger services as COVID situation stabilizes

“In trains already restored with regular train numbers, second class accommodation will be kept reserved or unreserved as per applicability during the pre-pandemic period,” the railways said in a circular.

In addition, second class accommodation of special trains currently running as holiday special trains will also be earmarked and reserved or unreserved as per the policy.

A railway spokesperson said that in regular trains, general coaches will be marked as reserved or unreserved as these were prevalent during the pre-pandemic period.

Elaborating further, he said that if a train had four unreserved general seating coaches during the pre-pandemic period, but is now being operated as 2S reserved class, they will be given advance reservation period (after 120 days). will be reinstated as unreserved coaches from or with no booking date (from the date on which no passenger has booked a reserved ticket in 2S class).

The spokesperson said, “However, if some GSCZ or similar coaches in a train were running as reserved second sitting coaches (2S Class) in the pre-COVID times, they will still be available as reserved seating coaches in those trains. will continue as such.”

In holiday specials or other special trains, general coaches will be reserved or unreserved, as was prevalent during the pre-pandemic period, he said.

The Railways was running fully reserved ‘special trains’ during the pandemic to prevent overcrowding in trains so as to prevent the spread of the disease. Even the general second class coaches, which were mostly used over short distances and by the economically backward classes, were made reserve coaches.

Indian Railways had said that in December last year it had suffered heavy losses due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnav told that how much has decreased in the total traffic revenue of Indian Railways? 34,145 crore as compared to the previous year 2019-20.

This was mainly due to reduction in passenger and other coaching revenue. 35,421 crore and 2,544 crores respectively as compared to the previous year. This decrease was partially offset by an increase in freight and miscellaneous other revenues.

With inputs from agencies.