Indian Railways wants to know the exact address where you are going while booking tickets online

• Indian Railways has now started asking ‘destination address’ from all passengers for contact tracing if required.
  
• Currently, the passengers undergo a mandatory thermal scanning before entering the station, and only passengers with no COVID symptoms are allowed to travel.
  
• The Rail Ministry said the passengers who are disallowed from travelling on trains because of symptoms associated with the novel coronavirus would receive a full refund for their tickets.

Indian Railways has now started asking the ‘destination address’ from all passengers while they are booking online tickets on IRCTC. The railways said it would help them in contact tracing in case of a positive coronavirus case.

“With effect from May 13, IRCTC has started taking the destination address of all passengers, booking online tickets. This will help us in contact tracing, if required later,” said the Indian Railways.


Till now the travellers were never asked for the destination address, but the Ministry thinks that in the wake of coronavirus it is important to keep track of people travelling by trains.

The railways also decided to cancel all old bookings for regular trains scheduled till June 30 and provide a full refund for it. The cancelled tickets were booked during the lockdown period for travels in June.

On May 12, Indian Railways also started running special trains to help stranded citizens of other states to reach home. Currently, booking of tickets is only permitted via the IRCTC platform. According to reports,in a single day more than 82,317people booked tickets worth ₹16.15 crore.

According to the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs, the passengers undergo a mandatory thermal scanning before entering the station, and only passengers with no COVID symptoms are allowed to travel. Along with that, passengers have to wear face masks and follow social distancing rules throughout the journey.

“If during screening, a passenger has a very high temperature/symptoms of COVID-19, etc., he shall not be allowed to travel despite having confirmed tickets. In such case full refund shall be provided to the passenger,” the order stated.

It also said the passengers who are disallowed from travelling on trains because of symptoms associated with the novel coronavirus would receive a full refund for their tickets.

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