Indian Railways To Deploy 20 Pairs Of Clone Special Trains To Meet High Demand  

Considering the huge demand for travel to specific destinations like Varanasi, Lucknow, Muzaffarpur and Patna, Indian Railways has that announced 20 pairs of special ‘clone trains’ will be deployed from 21 September, in addition to the 310 special trains operating currently.

This is the first time clone trains are being deployed on the railways network. The reservation for these trains will begin from 19 September.

These clone trains will run on notified timings and will be fully reserved. The stoppages shall be limited to operational halts.

With continuation of the unlocking process, the state-run transporter had taken the decision to run clone trains on routes where the occupancy is more depending on the waitlist for the trains.

The clone trains are based on the operation of special trains that are already running but with limited stoppages and faster transit time.

“Considering the huge demand for travel on specific routes, the Railway Ministry has decided to run 20 pairs of clone special trains. These trains will run on notified timings and will be fully reserved trains. The stoppages shall be limited to operational halts,” the railways said.

The advance reservation period for the trains will be 10 days.

“The clone trains will be operationalised on the routes having high patronage and demand. Clone trains have not been operated by the Indian Railways in the past. The clone trains being proposed, are based on the patronisation of already operating Special trains with limited stoppages and faster transit time. The clone trains will be primarily 3 AC trains and run ahead of the already operating special trains,” the railways added.

“Operation of clone trains will be widely publicised for the benefit of prospective passengers,” it added. The trains will operate at a higher speed than the existing special train.

Nineteen pairs of clone trains will run by utilising Humsafar trains and one pair, the Lucknow-Delhi clone special, shall run as Jan Shatabdi Express, the ministry said.

The fares of these clone trains will be similar to the Humsafar trains and Janshatabdi Express respectively, the statement added.

On 6 September, the railways had announced it will deploy 80 special trains from 12 September, in addition to the 230 special trains currently operating.

The railways had suspended all regular passenger trains indefinitely on 22 March due to the Covid-19 lockdown. Earlier in June, the railways had said passenger trains, including express and suburban services that were earlier suspended until 30 June, will not operate until 12 August.

The 15 pairs of premium Rajdhani trains, connecting Delhi with different parts of the country, which began on 12 May, and 100 pairs of long-distance trains, which began on 1 June, will continue to function.

While the passenger trains are still limited in number due to Covid-19 pandemic, freight service is in full steam with more and more goods being loaded across the country.