Indian Railways has asked all passengers to confirm their awareness on “quarantine protocol” before booking their IRCTC train tickets for journeys on Rajdhani Express-type special train services as well as other trains that might be operated in due course of time. From now, only such passengers will be allowed to book tickets, according to an IE report. Piyush Goyal-led Indian Railways has decided to add this feature to the national transporter’s e-ticketing arm- IRCTC’s website, after some passengers of Delhi – Bengaluru special train had to be hauled back because they refused to go to institutional quarantine for a period of 14 days, earlier this week.

From now on, while booking tickets on the IRCTC website, a pop-up will appear on the website’s screen, asking passengers or users to confirm if they have read and agree to abide by the health advisory of the destination state. Only after checking “ok”, they can proceed to book their tickets. The message is available in both languages, Hindi and English. Apart from this, it also asks the passenger or IRCTC user to download the Aarogya Setu mobile app.

Earlier this week, the national transporter decided to operate special train services for all of the passengers and not just migrant workers, students, pilgrims, and others, calling it a “gradual resumption of passenger train services”. However, Indian Railways left it to the destination state governments as well as the concerned railway passengers to figure out whether they would be quarantined due to the current crisis of COVID-19 pandemic,

Railways has decided to add this feature to the e-ticketing arm- IRCTC’s website, after some passengers of Delhi – Bengaluru special train had to be hauled back because they refused to go to institutional quarantine for a period of 14 days. While booking tickets on the IRCTC website, a pop-up will appear on the website’s screen, asking passengers or users to confirm if they have read and agree to abide by the health advisory of the destination state. 

Only after checking “ok”, they can proceed to book their tickets. The pop-up message says, ” COVID 19 Alert: During COVID-19, You are Responsible for Your Own Health”.

Here are the protocols listed in the message:

  • Use Face Mask, Maintain Social Distancing and Wash Hands Frequently
  • All passengers are hereby informed that downloading of Aarogya Setu App on their mobile phone, that they are carrying along, is mandatory.
  • All Passenger to kindly note that on arrival at their destination, the travelling passengers will have to adhere to such health protocols as are prescribed by the destination State/UT. Click Here to see state wise advisory on Arrival(As available). For other states, State Govt websites may be visited to ascertain the same.
  • For trains cancelled till 30th June 2020 by Indian Railways, a full refund will be provided automatically by IRCTC. Users need not cancel their e-tickets. Full fare will be credited back into users accounts from which payment was made.
  • Catering Service is not available and catering charges not included in the fare.
  • No blanket and linen shall be provided in the train.

Maximum Waiting List Limits:

It is worth mentioning that there are Maximum Waiting List Limits in the PRS booking system for which Waitlisted Tickets can be issued after all confirmed tickets are exhausted. Ticket booking request may get declined as the Maximum Waiting List Limit may be reached in the booking system by the time payment success response is received. In such a case, the deducted amount will be refunded back, without any deductions in 3-5 working days.