Union Minister for Railways Piyush Goyal.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.
The trains will be run on notified timings and will be fully reserved with limited stoppages. Also, the reservation for these trains will begin on 19 September.
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.
An Appeal...
Dear Reader,
As you are no doubt aware, Swarajya is a media product that is directly dependent on support from its readers in the form of subscriptions. We do not have the muscle and backing of a large media conglomerate nor are we playing for the large advertisement sweep-stake.
Our business model is you and your subscription. And in challenging times like these, we need your support now more than ever.
We deliver over 10 - 15 high quality articles with expert insights and views. From 7AM in the morning to 10PM late night we operate to ensure you, the reader, get to see what is just right.
Becoming a Patron or a subscriber for as little as Rs 1200/year is the best way you can support our efforts.