In this hour crisis caused by COVID-19, people, stranded in various part of the Country trying to return the State, are facing numerous problems in booking rail tickets due to heavy rush.
Indian Railway started Superfast Rajdhani Special trains on Tuesday from New Delhi to 15 other destination in various parts of the Country including Ranchi. There are lakhs of people stranded in various part of the Country are willing to safely return the State due to outbreak of the global epidemic and to celebrate Eid-Ul-Fitr.
The Railway made arrangement to book train tickets for these 15 destinations only through the official website of IRCTC (https://www.irctc.co.in/) which started booking at 4 pm on Monday but due to heavy rush the website got crashed. It started and again crashed at 6 PM. Even today passengers don't know the schedule of booking tickets.
Federation of Jharkhand Chambers of Commerce and Industries (FJCCI) Railway Sub-Committee, Chairman, Navjot Alang informed that there is heavy load on IRCTC website but it is functioning and reservation is going on after interval of some time. People have been able get reserved tickets on the other hand it is also fact they have to spend time to book the tickets as the website is not working properly. "Around 20 passengers got their booked, who came to the State Capital in mid of month of March so it is proving that booking is going on. Another reason of difficulties facing by people that the IRCTC not allowed ticket agents for booking the tickets and people are not trying repeatedly," said Alang.
Indian Railways also shared some important information with the media on this occasion, which is very important for people traveling. According to the Railway, all passengers have been advised to download the Aarogya Setu app in their phones, all passengers have to reach the railway station 90 minutes before the scheduled time, all special trains will have only AC class coaches and fare will be same as Rajdhani Express, if someone has to cancel his ticket, then he can do it only through the online medium up to 24 hours before the scheduled time of travel and only half the money will be refunded on the ticket cancel and all passengers have to bring bed sheets, blankets, food, water themselves. On the way, only packed food, bottled water will be available on payment basis.