BackRailways to gradually resume passenger train services from May 12
Ticket booking counters at the railway stations will remain closed and no counter tickets, including platform tickets will be issuedTo begin with, the national transporter will run 15 pairs of trains, which will include 30 return journeys
PremiumAfter a gap of over a month, Indian Railways on Sunday said it will resume passenger train services in a phased manner from May 12, with online bookings starting Monday.
To begin with, the national transporter will run 15 pairs of trains, which will include 30 return journeys. These trains will 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, an official statement said.
An official spokesperson at the railway ministry said that all the trains will be air-conditioned and charges will be equivalent to Rajdhani trains.
"Railways plans to gradually restart passenger train operations from 12th May, 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 11th May," railway minister Piyush Goyal said in a tweet.
The development comes a day ahead of the Prime Minister's video conference with the chief ministers of all states to discuss post lockdown strategy. All modes of public transportation were suspended since the imposition of the lockdown beginning March 25. However, on May 1 only special trains carrying stranded migrant workers were flagged off from various stations to help them reach their hometown.
Thereafter, Indian Railways will start more special service trains on new routes, based on the available coaches after reserving 20,000 coaches for covid-19 care centres. Besides, adequate number of coaches will be reserved to ensure operation of up to 300 migrant special trains everyday for the stranded migrants.
Booking for reservation in these trains will start at 4 pm on May 11 and will be available only on the IRCTC website.
Ticket booking counters at the railway 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 the railway stations," railway ministry said.
The ministry further said that it will be mandatory for the passengers to wear face cover and will have to undergo screening at the departure. Besides, only asymptomatic passengers, with confirmed tickets will be allowed to board the train.
Earlier during the day, Goyal said that Indian Railways is gearing up to run 300 shramik special trains everyday to help migrant workers and stranded people reach their home states.
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