20 pairs of ‘clone trains’ to run on select routes from Sep 21
New Delhi, Sep 15 (IANS) In view of the heavy rush in several Special trains, the Railways has decided to run 20 pairs of clone trains on select routes from September 21.
A senior Railway Ministry official said that these would be fully-reserved trains.
The official said that 19 pairs of the clone trains will run the rakes of Humsafar Express, consisting of 18 coaches each, while one pair will run on the Delhi-Lucknow route with 22 coaches.
The reservation period for these trains will be 10 days, the official said.
The official said that the fares of the clone trains with Hamsafar train rakes will be charged as per the fare structure of Humsafar Express trains while the clone train on the Delhi-Lucknow route will be charged as per the Jan Shatabdi Express fares.
Railway Board Chairman VK Yadav, during a virtual press conference on September 5, had announced that the clone trains would be run on routes with higher occupancy.
According to Railway officials, clone trains would be in addition to the 310 pairs of trains currently in operation.
The Railways suspended passenger, Mail and Express trains in the wake of the nationwide lockdown from March 25.
Shramik Special trains were run to ferry stranded migrant workers, students, pilgrims and tourists from May 1. As many as 15 pairs of Special trains were pressed into service from May 12 and 100 pairs of time-tabled trains from June 1.
From September 12, the Railways has also started operation of 40 more pairs of time-tabled trains.
–IANS
aks/tsb/bg
