Indian Railways plans to restart passenger trains during a phased manner starting May 12, five days before the top of the national lockdown to interrupt the coronavirus chain of transmission, consistent with a press release released on Sunday evening.
Ticket bookings are going to be opened from 4 pm on Monday, with these to be sold only via the IRCTC website. Counters in the least stations, including those for platform tickets, will remain closed.
Passenger services, suspended since the lockdown began Annunciation , will start with 15 “special” trains (total of 30 journeys) departing from Delhi and connecting cities in Assam, Bengal, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Jammu, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Odisha, Tamil Nadu , Telangana and Tripura.
Only passengers with confirmed and valid tickets are going to be allowed to enter the station at Delhi, the Railways warned, adding that each one passengers would even have to wear face masks, under screening at departure (only asymptomatic people can travel) and maintain social distancing in the least times.
“These trains are going to be run as special trains from New Delhi station connecting Dibrugarh, Agartala, Howrah, Patna, Bilaspur, Ranchi, Bhubaneswar, Secunderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram, Madgaon, Mumbai Central, Ahmedabad, and Jammu Tawi,” the Railways’ statement said.
All trains will run with AC coaches only and can have limited stoppage. Details regarding train schedule are going to be issued in due course, the Railways added.
Railways Minister Piyush Goyal tweeted confirmation: “Railways plans to gradually restart train operations from May 12, 2020, initially with 15 pairs of special trains connecting New Delhi with major stations across India. Booking in these trains will start at 4 pm on May 11”.
