Only fully reserved special trains shall be run: Southern Railway

The Railway Board in a letter dated October 21 had allowed to operate unreserved trains and add General Class compartments to mail/express trains

The Southern Railway is operating only fully reserved special trains and has no immediate plans to run unreserved trains. Therefore, suburban train services will not restart soon.

Although, the Railway Board in a note to all 18 zonal railways on October 21, communicated its decision to allow operation of full unreserved trains and also to attach General Class coaches in all mail and express trains, Southern Railway Chief Public Relations Officer B. Guganesan has said this had no relevance to the current pandemic context.

According to Mr Guganesan, the letter from the Railway Board is an internal communication advising the Zonal Railways about composition of General Coaches in Mail/express trains. “The letter does not communicate any approval for running of unreserved trains,” he said.

“Only fully reserved special trains shall be continued to be run and only reserved passengers shall be allowed to travel until further advice from Railway Board,” he added.