The Railways' Passenger Reservation System will shut down for six hours during the lean business hours at night for the next seven days, from the intervening night of November 14 and 15, to the night of November 20 and 21. This will be done as part of the national transporter's efforts to normalise passenger services and revert to pre-COVID-19 times in a phased manner, the Railway Ministry said on Sunday, November 14. The step is to enable upgradation of system data, new train numbers and other work, it said.
"Since a huge amount of past (old train numbers) and current passenger booking data is to be updated in all mail/express trains, this is being planned in a series of carefully calibrated steps and implemented during night hours in order to minimise the impact on ticketing services. The activity will be performed starting from the intervening night of November 14 and 15 to the night of November 20 and 21, starting at 23:30 hours and ending at 0530 hrs," it said.
During these six-hour periods, no Passenger Reservation System (PRS) services like ticket reservation, current booking, cancellation, enquiry services, among others, will be available. Besides, railway personnel will ensure advance charting for the trains to start during the affected timings. Except for the PRS services, all other enquiry services, including 139 services, will continue uninterrupted, the ministry noted.
"The Ministry of Railways has requested its customers to support the ministry in the effort to normalise and upgrade the passenger services," it said. The Indian Railways had on Friday issued an order to discontinue the 'special' tag for mail and express trains and revert to pre-pandemic ticket prices with immediate effect. The officials, however, said the curbs introduced in view of the pandemic such as temporary restrictions on concessions, bedrolls and meal services, would continue to be in effect.