INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
The Indian Railways is all set to roll out 40 clone trains on high demand routes from Monday
A senior official has said that the clone trains will arrive at the destinations two-three hours before the corresponding parent train.The
40 clone trains are primarily 3-AC trains with fewer halts, higher speeds and a departure time before the parent train
The official said the clone trains are like a boon for the passengers who have to travel in an emergency or have made last-minute
plans.Their stoppages will be limited to operational halts or the Divisional Headquarters en route, if any, thereby reducing their journey
time, the official said."These clone trains will reach their destinations two to three hours in advance
That's how they have been planned," a senior official told PTI."We are assuming that during these times, people will travel only in an
emergency and we want to make sure that on the high traffic routes, we can accommodate all passengers who want to travel."The Railways has
introduced these 20 pairs of clone trains on high demand routes with most trains between Bihar, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi, Andhra
Pradesh and Karnataka.While the tickets for 19 pairs of these clone trains -- all 18 coaches -- will be charged at the Humsafar Express
rates, the fare will be at par with the Janshatabdi Express rates for the 22-coach clone train between Lucknow and Delhi.The advance
reservation period for these trains will be 10 days and the booking opened at 8 am on September 19, the Railways said."It is better to run
trains on routes where there is more demand, than keeping the assets idle
We tried to implement this earlier, but not enough path was available
Now, with this pandemic there is no dearth of path and this is the right time to test the market for such trains," the official said."The
clone trains will be primarily 3AC trains and run ahead of the already operating special trains
The zones have been given flexibility to decide how much of a head start the clone trains will be given depending on the availability of
for these trains, sources said it can be considered in the near future.This initiative was first announced by then Railway Minister Suresh
Prabhu in 2016, but it failed to take off primarily because of congestion on the rail network.While the 19 pairs of Humsafar Express trains
will be of 18 coaches, the Lucknow-Delhi train will have 22 coaches.According to the list of trains being run by the Railways, 10 (5 pairs)
will operate between Bihar and Delhi under the East Central Railways.These trains will originate and terminate at Bihar's Saharsa, Rajendra
Nagar, Rajgir, Darbhanga and Muzaffarpur.The two trains operating under the Northeast Frontier Railway are also from Bihar: Katihar to Delhi
and back.The Northern Railway will also run 10 trains (5 pairs) which will operate between Delhi and Bihar and back, West Bengal to Delhi,
Punjab to West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh to Delhi among others.The South Central Railway will operate two trains between Danapur (Bihar) to
Secunderabad and back.The South Western Railway will operate 6 trains (3 pairs) between Goa and Delhi, Karnataka-Bihar and
Karnataka-Delhi.The Western Railway will run 10 trains (5 pairs) between Bihar (Darbhanga)-Gujarat(Ahmedabad), Delhi-Gujarat, Bihar
(Chhapra) to Gujarat (Surat), Mumbai-Punjab, Gujarat(Ahmedabad)-Bihar (Patna)The Railways had suspended all passenger trains services due to
the imposition of a nationwide lockdown from 25th March
However, it resumed services in a staggered manner, with Shramik Special trains to help stranded migrant workers reach their home states
Then, it started 230 special trains across the country, followed by another 80 special trains from September 12.The additional trains were
announced keeping in mind the COVID-19 situation, and also to allow reverse migration of workers to urban areas for work, with the country
entering into Unlock 4.0.The clone trains include: New Delhi-Saharsa-New Delhi; New Delhi-Rajgir-New Delhi; New Delhi-Darbhanga-New Delhi;
Delhi-Muzaffarpur-Delhi.The other trains are: New Delhi-Rajendra Nagar-New Delhi; Delhi-Katihar-Delhi; New Jalpaiguri-Amritsar-New
Jalpaiguri; Jayanagar-Amritsar-Jayanagar; New Delhi-Lucknow-New Delhi; Bengaluru-Danapur-Bengaluru.The other routes being served through
these clone trains are: Varanasi - New Delhi - Varanasi; Ballia -- Delhi -- Ballia; Secunderabad - Danapur - Secunderabad;
Vasco-Nizamuddin-Vasco; Yesvantpur-Nizamuddin - Yesvantpur; Ahmedabad-Darbhanga-Ahmedabad; Ahmedabad - Delhi - Ahmedabad; Surat - Chhapra -
Surat; Bandra-Amritsar-Bandra; Ahmedabad-Patna-Ahmedabad.
