Railways to partially resume services from May 12, trains to connect Delhi to 15 cities, bookings open Monday

HIGHLIGHTS

• Indian Railways is planning to gradually resume passenger train operations from May 12 onwards
• These trains will run as special trains from New Delhi Station to major stations across the country
• Bookings for these trains will start at 4 pm on May 11

Indian Railways is planning to gradually resume passenger train operations from May 12 onwards. Passenger train service will begin with 15 pairs of special trains, a government notification said.

These trains will run as special trains from New Delhi Station to major stations across the country.

These special trains will be run from New Delhi Station to Dibrugarh, Agartala, Howrah, Patna, Bilaspur, Ranchi, Bhubaneswar, Secunderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram, Madgaon, Mumbai Central, Ahmedabad and Jammu Tawi, the government notice stated.

Initially, all air-conditioned services will begin on 15 Rajdhani routes and the fare would be equivalent to that of the super-fast train, it said.

Union Minister of Railways and Commerce & Industry Piyush Goyal also took to Twitter to inform that railway operations will resume with 15 pairs of special trains connecting New Delhi with major stations across India initially.

Bookings for these trains will start at 4 pm on May 11, Piyush Goyal informed.

However, ticket booking counters at the railway stations will remain closed and no counter tickets (including platform tickets) will be issued.

“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,” Union Minister Piyush Goyal said in a tweet.

The government notice said, “Indian Railways plans to gradually restart passenger train operations from 12th May, 2020, 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.”

The notification further mentioned that Indian Railways shall thereafter start more special services on new routes, based on the available coaches after reserving 20,000 coaches for Covid-19 care centres and an adequate number of coaches being reserved to enable operation of up to 300 trains every day as “Shramik Special” for stranded migrants.

“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/). Ticket booking counters at the railway stations shall remain closed and no counter tickets (including platform tickets) shall be issued,” the notification further read.

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.

“Further details including train schedule will be issued separately in due course,” the notification said.

Officials said unlike Shramik Specials, in which only 54 passengers were allowed in every coach instead of the regular 72, these trains will run on full capacity, but no concession in fare is likely to be allowed.

Officials also said that passengers travelling in these trains may not be given blankets and linen to reduce the chances of the spread of coronavirus. There will be special norms for the air-conditioning inside the coaches and temperatures will be kept slightly higher than the usual and maximum supply of only fresh air will be ensured.