Indian Railways To Operate 20 Pairs Of Clone Special Trains From 21 September To Meet Heavy Demand On Certain Routes

In a first, the Indian Railways will begin the operation of 20 pairs of clone special trains from 21 September to address the heavy demand being recorded on certain routes, reports Economic Times.

Announcing the development, Piyush Goyal-led Ministry of Railways said that the clone trains will primarily be '3 AC' trains which would run ahead of the already operational special passenger trains. Also, these trains will be operated at a speed higher than the existing special trains.

While 19 pairs of clone trains will be run by utilising Humsafar rakes, one pair will be run as a clone of Jan Shatabdi Express between Lucknow and Delhi. The fare of Humsafar rake clone train will be charged as Humsafar trains, and for Jan Shatabdi Express clone trains the charge will be the same as that of Jan Shatabdi Express.

It should be noted that the number of trains have been consistently going up since June this year when the passenger train operations had first resumed post suspension of services in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic in March.