Railways to start waiting lists for special trains from May 22; likely to run more trains

New Delhi: The Indian Railways is likely to begin operating more trains as it prepares to meet the growing demand from passengers to travel amid the nationwide lockdown owing to the Covid-19 outbreak in the country.

In a circular issued to zonal railways on Wednesday, the Railway Board made provisions for limited waiting list capacity for special trains that began operating on Tuesday, and for “special trains to be notified in due course of time.”

“In the coming days, there will be more trains, depending on the demand we have ” a railway ministry official told ET. “Different zones have been asked to plan accordingly,” the official added.


As per the letter issued on Wednesday, the railway ministry has decided to do away with RAC for these trains.

Going forward, for the special Rajdhanis and the ones to be notified, the railways ministry has decided to allow limited waiting list capacity of up to 100 for AC 3 tier, 50 for AC 2 tier, 200 for Sleeper class, 100 for chair cars, and 20 each for First AC and Executive Class. These changes will be applicable for trains running May 22nd onwards, the booking window for which will open on May 15.

The national transporter resumed passenger services in a graded manner on Tuesday, allowing 15 sets of trains air-conditioned Rajdhani trains to begin operations. As of Wednesday evening, 112157 tickets worth Rs 40 crore had been issued to over 2 lakh passengers for the coming week.

“We will start issuing very few waitlist tickets from May 22 because some passengers are cancelling their tickets at the last moment,” a railway ministry spokesperson said.