The Railways on Wednesday announced to run the first Suvidha Train by replacing the elite Premium concept of trains from next week on an experimental basis for a fortnight between Anand Vihar to Gorkahpur.
A Railway Ministry official said that Suvidha types of trains are planned to be run during peak summer, winter rush seasons, festivals and on other occasions as jointly decided by zonal Railways. It also launched a mobile ticketing app for unreserved tickets that will cover 35 stations between the 123 km long Churchgate-Dhauroad suburban section in Western Railway and a SMS destination alert service for premier trains Rajdhani and Duronto which provides for getting SMS alerts before arrival of the passengers’ destinations between 11 pm and 7 am.
“Only confirmed and RAC tickets will be issued on these trains. Advance Reservation Period (ARP) of the train will be maximum 30 days and minimum 10 days. Tickets for the train will be available both at Railway Reservation Counters and e-ticket through IRCTC,” said the official. Minimum fare of Suvidha trains will be Tatkal fare for the class. Fares would increase after booking of every 20 percent of seats/berths subject to maximum three times of Tatkal fare. No concession and free/complimentary passed will be applicable. Children will have to pay full adult fare.
Other applicable supplementary charges like reservation charge, superfast charge, service tax etc will also be levied separately. “50% refund of fare shall be granted upto 6 hours before the scheduled departure of the train or preparation of the chart whichever is earlier. After that no refund shall be permissible,” added the official.
For any other reason, if berth cannot be given to passenger by Indian Railways, full refund will be granted to the passenger manually, according to the notification of Suvidha Trains.