Indian Railways Will Open Special PRS Counter for Passengers
Highlights:
• Special passenger trains have operating since May 12.
• 15 pairs of AC special trains are running from New Delhi railway station.
• Provisions for booking tickets for these trains are only available from IRCTC website or mobile app.
• Some PRS counters will be opened for special category passengers.
• No ticket booking for common passengers will be done at PRS counters.
The Special Passenger trains have started running again since Tuesday following the unprecedented nationwide closure of trains due to the lockdown. A total number of eight Rajdhani equivalent special passenger trains have started running from Delhi, Mumbai, Howrah, Ahmedabad, Patna and Bangalore on Tuesday. After 50 days of the lockdown, three special trains from New Delhi Railway Station; carrying about 3500 passengers; reached their destination. Indian Railways has decided to operate 15 pairs of special trains from New Delhi station to Patna, Dibrugarh, Agartalla, Howrah, Bilaspur, Ranchi, Bhubaneswar, Secunderabad, Buru, Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram, Madgaon, Mumbai Central, Ahmedabad and Jammu Tawi. There is a provision for regular passengers to book travel tickets of these special trains only through the IRCTC website or mobile app of IRCTC. But there are many travellers who can only get their tickets through passes/banks/warrants. Such travellers need to book their tickets only at the ticket counters. For such special cases, the Indian Railways has changed their decision of closure of PRS counter and has now decided to open special PRS counters at selected Railways stations of the country.
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Some PRS Counters Will Open for Special Passengers
Rajesh Kumar, the chief public relations officer of East Central Railway, said that special category people have no option other than special PRS counter for tickets. Therefore, Passenger Reservation Centres (PRS counters) will be opened for such passengers. These counters will open only on the stations from where the trains will start running as well as the stations where their stoppages have been given. No tickets of any kind will be issued to ordinary passengers at these PRS counters.
Special PRS Counter Will Open For Whom?
1. HOR holder
2. Current and former MP/MLA/Legislative Counsellor
3. Fully reimbursable warrant /voucher which should be submitted in advance.
4. A railway worker with facility, card or duty holder identification card.
14 thousand passengers travelled on the first day
After 51 days in the country, the passenger trains started running again from Tuesday. On the first day, 8 trains started running. The first train left for Bilaspur from New Delhi at 4 pm. Thereafter, trains were departed at different time schedule from Rajendra Nagar to New Delhi, New Delhi to Dibrugarh, Bangalore to New Delhi, New Delhi to Bangalore, Mumbai Central to New Delhi, and Ahmedabad to New Delhi. Around 14 thousand passengers travelled on the first day. The passengers reached the station three and a half hours before the train schedule to catch the train. Moreover, the thermal temperature of all passengers of special train was checked. Passengers were sanitized by Indian Railways and then allowed to board the train. The passengers expressed happiness over the operations of the special passenger trains.