New Delhi: Indian Railways has planned to gradually restart operations of passenger trains from 12th May, 2020. However, Railways have mentioned about initiating services of only a limited number of trains. Booking for reservation in these trains will start at 4 pm on 11th May and will be available only on the IRCTC website.
The list of trains which have been planned to re-start operations also includes one that is to run in between New Delhi and Odisha capital Bhubaneswar.
As per reports, initially 15 pairs of trains will be run. These trains to run as special trains from New Delhi Station connecting Dibrugarh, Agartala, Howrah, Patna, Bilaspur, Ranchi, Bhubaneswar, Secunderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Thiruvannatpuram, Madgaon, Mumbai Central, Ahmedabad and Jammu Tawi.
Tickets for the above mentioned trains will be available only on the IRCTC website www.irctc.co.in
Ticket booking counters at the railway stations shall remain closed and no counter tickets including platform tickets will be issued.
Again, it will be mandatory for the passengers to wear face mask and undergo screening to travel in these trains. Also, only COVID 19 asymptomatic passengers will be allowed to board these trains.
According to the Railways, all the coaches will be all AC with limited stoppage and the fare will be equivalent to Rajdhani trains.
“The Indian Railways shall start more special services on new routes, based on the available coaches after reserving 20,000 coaches for Covid-19 care centres and adequate number of coaches being reserved to enable operation of up to 300 trains everyday as ‘Shramik Special’ for stranded migrants,” the Ministry of Railways said in a statement.
Booking for reservations in these trains will start at 4 p.m. on Monday and will be available only on the IRCTC website (https://www.irctc.co.in/). Ticket booking counters at the railway stations shall remain closed and no counter tickets (including platform tickets) shall be issued. Only passengers with valid confirmed tickets will be allowed to enter the railway stations. It will be mandatory for the passengers to wear face cover and undergo screening at departure and only asymptomatic passengers will be allowed to board the train. Further details including train schedule will be issued separately in due course,” it said.
The Indian Railways had stopped the passenger services on March 22 and with the announcement of the nationwide lockdown, the suspension continued till now. However trains carrying migrants have started from last week. So far, over 350 Shramik special trains were operated by the Railways carrying 3.5 lakh migrant workers.
However, good trains carrying essentials were running in the lockdown to ensure the supply of essential goods.
(With inputs from IANS)
Ms Kalinga