New Delhi, May 21: In a major relief for passengers, the Indian Railways on Thursday said that ticket reservation counters at railway stations will open from May 22, Friday. This development comes at a time when the railways booking for 200 non-AC trains that will run from June 1, 2020, started on Thursday. "Reservation counters, common service centres for booking reserved tickets to open on May 22; zones to identify stations for counters," Railways said. Full List of 200 Trains to be Resumed by Indian Railways From June 1, Check Station Names and Routes.

The zonal railways have been directed to decide and notify opening of reservation counters, the order stated.

The facility of booking/cancellation of reserved tickets will be also available at post offices, Yatri Ticket Suvidha Kendra licensees and through authorized IRCTC agents. These booking counters and common service centres were shut since March 25 when a nationwide lockdown was imposed to contain the COVID-19 spread. Indian Railways to Resume Offline Train Ticket Bookings at 1.7 Lakh Centres Across the Country From May 22, Says Piyush Goyal.

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Earlier today, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal said over 4,00,000 tickets were sold within a span of two and a half hours since booked started at 10 am today. He also informed that train ticket bookings will resume at around 1.7 lakh common service centres (CSC) across the country from Friday. CSC are physical facilities for delivering e-services of government ar rural and remote locations.

The trains will resume operations on 200 routes from July 1 and are different from special passenger and Shramik Express trains. The latter, while are non-AC coaches, are being run to ferry stranded migrants to their native states.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 21, 2020 09:27 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).