New Delhi: The Ministry of Railways on Monday (May 11, 2020) issued guidelines for the running of the 'special trains'. Ministry of Railways stated that they won't provide blanket and linen in the trains and the provision for the pre-paid meal booking and e-catering will be disabled.
The circular released by the Ministry of Railways read, "No blanket and linen shall be provided in the train. Information to this effect shall be made available to passengers during time of booking the ticket."
The circular also read, "No catering charges shall be included in the fare. Provision for pre-paid meal booking, e-catering shall be disabled. However, IRCTC shall make provision for limited eatables and packaged drinking water on a payment basis."
The fare structure for the special trains shall be as applicable for the regular time tabled Rajdhani train/ or as per the regular time tabled train category notified by the coaching directorate.
MoR also released the following guidelines for booking of tickets:
1. Tickets shall be booked only online on the IRCTC website or through the mobile app. Booking of tickets through 'agents' (both IRCTC agents and railway agents) shall not be permitted.
2. The ARP (advance reservation period) shall be a maximum of 7 days.
3. Only confirmed tickets shall be booked. Booking of RAC/waiting list ticket and onboard booking by ticket checking staff shall not be permitted.
4. Current booking, tatkal, and premium tatkal booking shall not be permitted.
5. Accommodation allotted at en-route stations shall be as the regular timetabled train. In case a regular stoppage has not been provisioned for, the quota for the stoppage shall be transferred to the previous scheduled stoppage.
Ministry of Railways also said that the online cancellation shall be permitted up to 24 hours before the scheduled departure of the train. The cancellation charge shall be 50% of the fare.
