Railways to take destination address of passengers for contact tracing, if required

In yet another major decision, the Indian Railways has decided to take details of the destination address of all passengers who will book online tickets. Officials said that it is being done to help the administration in contact tracing if required later. The Railways has started operating its passenger trains from May 12 with 15 pairs of special trains that departed from the New Delhi Station to major stations across the country.

READ | Railways cancels all tickets booked on regular trains till June 30; non-AC option likely

READ | Passengers disallowed train travel due to Covid-19 symptoms to get full refund: Railways

Other order by the Railways

Meanwhile, the railways have decided to cancel all old bookings for regular trains scheduled till June 30 and provide a full refund for it. However, the Shramik Special trains which started from May 1 and the special trains which started operations from May 12 will continue to operate, an order from the railways said.

READ | FM Nirmala Sitharaman to detail India's Rs 20 lakh crore Covid package at 4pm on Wednesday

The tickets, which are to be cancelled, were booked during the lockdown period when the railways were allowing bookings for journeys in June.  Regular mail, express, passenger and suburban services of the railways had been suspended from March 25 due to the coronavirus-triggered lockdown. Earlier, all bookings for regular trains were stopped till May 17, till lockdown 3.0 remains in force. 

The Railways also said that passengers who are disallowed from travelling on trains because of symptoms associated with coronavirus will receive full refund for their tickets. As per guidelines issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs, all passengers shall be compulsorily screened and only asymptomatic passengers shall be allowed to enter/board the train.

READ | FM Nirmala, Home Secy at PMO for pre-package huddle; PM Modi to meet empowered group heads