Railways' reservation system to be shut down for 6 hrs for next 7 days. Details here
Passenger reservation system will be shut down for 6 hours during the lean business hours of the night for the next 7 days
PremiumThe Ministry of Railways on Sunday informed that to revert back in a phased manner to the pre-Covid levels of service, its passenger reservation system will be shut down for 6 hours during the lean business hours of the night for the next 7 days.
“To normalize passenger services and revert back in a phased manner to the pre-covid levels of service, the Railways Passenger Reservation System ( PRS) will be shut down for 6 hrs during the lean business hrs of the night for the next 7 days," it said.
“This is to enable upgradation of system data and updating of new train numbers. Since huge amount of past (old train numbers) and current passenger booking data are to be updated in all Mail/ Express trains, this is being planned in a series of carefully calibrated steps and implemented during night hours in order to minimize impact on ticketing services," the ministry said.
The activity will be performed starting from the intervening night of 14 and 15-Nov to the night of 20 and 21-Nov starting at 23:30 hrs and ending at 0530 hrs.
During these 6 hours (from 23:30 to 05:30 hrs ) period, no PRS Services (ticket Reservation, current booking, cancellation, enquiry services etc) will be available, the statement said.
During the period railway personnel will ensure the advance charting for the trains to start during the affected timings. Except for the PRS services, all other enquiry services including 139 services will continue uninterrupted.
On Friday, the Railways issued an order to discontinue the 'special' tag for mail and express trains and revert to pre-pandemic ticket prices with immediate effect.
Since the lockdown was eased, the Railways has been running only special trains. It started with long-distance trains and now, even short-distance passenger services are being run as special trains with "slightly higher fares".
“Ministry of Railways have decided that all the regular time tabled trains which are presently operating as MSPC (mail/express special) & HSP (holiday special) train services, included in the working time table,2021, shallbe operated with regular numbers and with fare and categorisationas applicable," the Railway Board said in a letter to the principal chief commercial managers.
The board said second class of such trains shall continue to run as reserved except any relaxation permitted in special case. “On already booked tickets in advance, no difference of fare either to be collected by Railways or any refund due to already booked passengers shall be permitted," the board said.
In the letter to zonal railways, the Railway on Friday said trains will now be operated with their regular numbers and fares will revert to normal pre-Covid prices.
Ticket prices of special trains and holiday special trains are marginally higher.
The Railway Board said trains will now be operated with their regular numbers and fares will revert to normal pre-Covid prices.
With agency inputs
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