New Delhi: Indian Railway is on move to gradually restart passenger train operations from 12 May.
According to the press communiqué, initially, services will start with 15 pairs of 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.
Thereafter, 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 the adequate number of coaches being reserved to enable operation of up to 300 trains every day as “Shramik Special” for stranded migrants, it said.
Booking for reservation in these trains will start at 4 pm on 11th May 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 schedules, will be issued separately in due course.
It’s worth mentioning that, the existing Shramik Special trains will continue to run as per the present system at the request of the respective State Governments.
No concession will be allowed on the trains. The fares of these trains will be that of Rajdhani trains, which mean all these, will be all air-conditioned trains and will be available on premium fares, it reported.
