Railways to resume services from May 12

NEW DELHI: After 50 days of suspension of its passenger services due to the Coronavirus lockdown, Indian Railways will gradually restart passenger train services from May 12. Initially, all air-conditioned services will begin on 15 Rajdhani routes and the fare would be equivalent to that of the super-fast train. Railways is likely to ask passengers to arrive at the station at least an hour before departure.

The special trains will run from New Delhi to Dibrugarh, Agartala, Howrah, Patna, Bilaspur, Ranchi, Bhubaneswar, Secunderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram, Madgaon, Mumbai Central, Ahmedabad and Jammu Tawi. Officials said unlike Shramik Specials, in which only 54 passengers were allowed instead of the regular 72, these trains will run on full capacity, but no concession in fare is likely to be allowed.

Booking for reservation in these trains will start at 4 pm on May 11 and will be available only on the IRCTC website (https://www.irctc.co.in/).

These tickets, officials say, would have details of the ‘dos and don’ts’ passengers need to follow -- such as arriving at the station at least an hour in advance for screening and other Coronavirus protocols, mandatory use of masks and use of the Arogya Setu mobile app.

It will be mandatory for travellers to wear face cover and undergo screening at departure and only asymptomatic passengers will be allowed to board the trains. Officials also said there will be few stoppages during the journey.

After the resumption of these 15 services, railways will start more trains on new routes, based on availability after reserving 20,000 coaches for COVID-19 care centres and an adequate number for running up to 300 Shramik Specials everyday.

Ticket booking services at stations will remain closed and no counter tickets (including platform tickets) will be issued. Only passengers with valid confirmed tickets will be allowed to enter railway stations, the railways said.