Indian Railways said on Tuesday that 20 pairs (40 trains) will run 'clone' trains from September 21 due to increasing demand for travel.
"In view of the huge demand for travel on specific routes, the Ministry of Railways has decided to run 20 pairs of clone special trains from 21.09.2020," the ministry said in a statement.
These cloned trains will run at the notified time and will be fully reserved trains. Stoppage operations will be limited to halts.
Tickets for 19 pairs of these trains will be charged at rates of Humsafar Express, which will be equal to the rates of Janshatabdi Express for clone train between Lucknow and Delhi.
The reservation period of these trains will be of 10 days.
These will run in addition to 310 special trains already in service and their stoppage will be limited to the operational halts or divisional headquarters en-route (if any).
Last week, the Indian Railways announced a special 'clone train' in routes that usually carry high passenger traffic, to provide relief to passengers on the waiting list.
These 'clone' or duplicate trains will run on high demand routes for passengers with waiting list. The government had earlier said that the proposed move would not only ensure availability of on demand trains, but would also increase revenue to the national transporter when the earnings declined due to the outbreak of COVID-19.
20 pairs of clone trains to start from 21st September on specific routes. These services will be in addition to Sharmik Special and Special trains: Ministry of Railways pic.twitter.com/hzef1uvokH
— ANI (@ANI) September 15, 2020
The Indian Railways suspended all passenger rail services from March 25 due to the implementation of nationwide lockout. However, it resumed services in a complex way, with labor special trains to help stranded migrant workers reach their home states from 1 May.
Subsequently, 230 special trains started across the country. Then from September 12, 80 special trains were run.