Train services to resume on selected routes including New Delhi-Patna from May 12
By Team BiharConnect
Indian Railways will gradually restart passenger train services from May 12. Train services will partially resume on selected routes including New Delhi-Patna. Only asymptomatic passengers will be allowed to board the train.
Passenger train services were suspended on March 25 as part of the nationwide lockdown imposed in view of the Covid-19 outbreak. This happened for the first time in 167-year history of Indian Railways. Before the lockdown was imposed Indian Railway used to ferry an average 2.3 crore passengers through 13,000 trains per day.
After nearly 50 days of suspension, the Indian Railways will start passenger initially with 15 pairs of trains (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.
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/), according to an official statement released by the Ministry of Railways.
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.
The ministry said 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 as “Shramik Special” for stranded migrants.
Shramik Special trains started from May 1 to ferry stranded migrant workers. Over 1 lakh migrant workers stranded in different parts of the country returned to Bihar through 83 Shramik Special trains till Sunday.
Freight and special parcel trains continued to ply during the lockdown.
