Delhi-Secunderabad Rajdhani Superfast Special: Travelling between Delhi and Secunderabad gets easier and more comfortable now! Piyush Goyal-led Indian Railways has recently launched a new Rajdhani Express Superfast Special train service, which runs between the two destinations on a weekly basis. According to the Railway Ministry, the weekly Rajdhani Superfast Special train has been introduced between Hazrat Nizamuddin station, Delhi and Secunderabad in Telangana for the convenience of railway passengers. The superfast special train started operations from 4 April 2021 onwards. The Rajdhani Superfast Special runs from Hazrat Nizamuddin, Delhi every Sunday and from Secunderabad, the superfast special train runs every Wednesday.
Recently, it was reported that over the next two months, the national transporter is likely to restore its passenger train services to pre-pandemic levels, provided that approval is given by the state governments and the pandemic is under control. These trains are also likely to be special trains only and not regular passenger services. Currently, 66 per cent of trains are operational on the Indian Railways network, albeit as special trains. The ones that are being run as special trains have marginally higher fares. Except in certain categories, they do not offer concessions and these trains operate as fully reserved train services.
Since the nationwide lockdown was declared last year in March, all regular passenger train services of Indian Railways remain suspended but since May 2020, special train services were started by the national transporter in a phased manner. As of now, 77 per cent of Indian Railways’ mail, express trains are in service, 91 per cent of suburban/local trains are running while only 20 per cent of passenger trains are currently on tracks. It is being said that Indian Railways would like to reach the pre-pandemic level of passenger services with its special trains. However, this depends on state governments’ approval and the status of the pandemic.