Indian Railways to run clone trains to clear long waiting lists

The Indian Railways will run 40 pairs of new special trains from September 12 for which the reservations will begin from September 10, said Vinod Kumar Yadav, Chairman Railway Board.

These trains are in addition to 230 trains already in operation, he added.

Yadav said the Railways will monitor all the trains currently in operation to determine which ones have long waiting lists.

"Wherever there is a demand, wherever the waiting list is long, we will run a clone train ahead of the actual train, so that passengers can travel," he said.

"Work on the bullet train project is going well. The alignment and design have been cleared. Clearance has been obtained from various authorities. However, land acquisition work slowed down due to COVID-19, especially in Maharashtra," said Yadav.

These 80 trains will be in addition to the already operational 230 trains across the country.

The Railways had started operating passenger trains since May after the coronavirus-induced lockdown in March this year led to a halt in operations.