India to restart passenger train services from May 12
NEW DELHI, May 11, 2020
Following nearly a two-month lockdown due to Covid-19, Indian Railways plans to gradually restart passenger train operations from May 12, said a report.
Initially, 15 pairs of trains will run. These special trains will run from New Delhi Station connecting Dibrugarh, Agartala, Howrah, Patna, Bilaspur, Ranchi, Bhubaneswar, Secunderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram, Madgaon, Mumbai Central, Ahmedabad and Jammu Tawi, said a report in Times of India.
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 adequate number of coaches being reserved to enable operation of up to 300 trains everyday for 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 (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, it said.
Only passengers with valid confirmed tickets will be allowed to enter the railway stations. It will be mandatory for the passenger to wear face cover and undergo screening at departure and only asymptomatic passengers will be allowed to board the train, the report said.
