After 50 days of suspension of Indian railway passenger trains due to coronavirus or COVID-19 lockdown, now Indian railways plans to resume their passenger train services gradually.
Today Indian railway has announced that 15 pairs of trains will resume from 12th May 2020. The online booking for the same will start from tomorrow, 11th May 2020, at 4 PM and will be available on the IRCTC website only. So to book, visit the IRCTC official website. The ticket counter at the station will remain closed.
All these 30 trains will run as special trains from New Delhi station. And these trains will connect 15 crucial cities in the country. These cities are
- Dibrugarh
- Agartala
- Howrah
- Patna
- Bilaspur
- Ranchi
- Bhubaneshwar
- Secunderabad
- Bengaluru
- Chennai
- Trivandrum
- Madgaon
- Mumbai Central
- Ahmedabad
- Jammu Tawi
All these special passenger trains will be run with the AC coaches only and with the limited stoppage. And the fare will be equivalent to the ticket fare that is generally charged for Rajdhani trains.
The only passenger with valid confirmed train tickets will be allowed to enter the Railway stations. It will be mandatory for all the passengers to wear a face mask and undergo screening at departure. Only healthy passengers will be allowed to board into the trains.
The railway will resume more special trains services on new routes once their 20,000 coaches are available after reserving for COVID-19 care centers.
Since 1st May, Indian railways have operated 386 “Shramik Special.” And around 4 lakh migrants have reached to their native place. Out of 366 special trains, 287 has arrived at their destination, whereas 79 trains are still in transit.
Out 287 trains 127 trains have terminated in UP, 87 in Bihar, 24 in Madhya Pradesh, 20 in Odisha, 16 In Jharkhand, 4 in Rajasthan, 3 in Maharashtra, 2 each in Telangana and West Bengal, and 1 in each Andhra Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh.