Railways back to pre-Covid fares

NEW DELHI: Under pressure from passengers over hike in fares, the Railways on Friday issued an order to discontinue the ‘special’ tag for mail and express trains and revert to pre-pandemic ticket prices with immediate effect.

Since the coronavirus-triggered lockdown was eased, the Railways has been running only special trains. It started with long-distance trains and now, even short-distance passenger services are being run as special trains with “slightly higher fares” to “discourage people from avoidable travels”.

In a letter to the zonal railways on Friday, the Railway Board said trains will now be operated with their regular numbers and fares will revert to normal pre-Covid prices.

Ticket prices of special trains and holiday special trains are marginally higher.

“In view of the COVID-19 pandemic, all regular mail/express trains were being operated as MSPC (mail/express special) and HSP (holiday special). It has now been decided that the MSPC and HSP train services, included in the Working Time Table, 2021, shall be operated with regular numbers and with fares as applicable for the concerned classes of travel and type of train, as per the extant guidelines.