Tejas Express trains will be resuming operations from October 17, almost 7 months after they were suspended in March. Mahendra Pratap Mall, Chairperson and Managing Director of IRCTC discussed this and more with CNBC-TV18.

Mall said that the passenger traffic has started picking up. In the pre-COVID period, IRCTC was booking 10 lakh tickets per day out of which 20-25 percent were waiting list and rest were confirmed. Against that, currently around 3 lakh tickets are being booked and around 95 percent of them are confirmed.

"A sufficient number of seats will be kept vacant for safety measures and the safety kit will cost around Rs 60-70 per passenger. Passengers will be served ready-to-eat meals," said the MD.

IRCTC is planning to enter private train operations in a big way, he mentioned.