Rajdhani special trains carry nearly 3.5 L passengers in 5 days, generate over Rs 69 cr revenue

Rajdhani Specials carried nearly 3.5 lakh passengers in last five days, generating a revenue of over Rs 69 crore for Indian Railways, said officials.

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The Rajdhani Special train service started by the national carrier on May 12 to ferry stranded people between Delhi and other major cities of the country has seen a major demand from the middle class with most of them running on full capacity.

A total of 27,788 people travelled on these trains on May 16 and the number is expected to reach 30,127 on Sunday, said officials.

The trains run on Rajdhani routes and charge premium fares.

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“Around 1,87,827 tickets were booked till date and a total of 3,48,634 passengers have travelled so far on these special trains. The total fare till date has been Rs 69,33,67,735. Twenty-one trains will be operational on May 27,” the railways said.

These trains are railways' first indication that a graded resumption of passenger services are slated to begin after the nationwide lockdown ends on May 17.

Officials, however, indicated that no regular passenger service will be resumed at least till June 30.

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Initially these trains did not have a waiting list, but it was introduced later to cater to the huge demand for these trains.

The railways allowed this relaxation for trains running from May 22 onwards.

The waiting list for special trains will be capped at 100 for AC 3 tier, 50 for AC 2 tier, 200 for sleeper class, 100 for chair cars, while the list will be capped at 20 each for First AC and Executive Class. There shall be no Reservation Against Cancellation (RAC) in special trains, Indian Railways said in a statement.