In a big relief for people across the country during this coronavirus lockdown, Indian Railways has decided to partially resume passenger train services from May 12. The bookings for special trains that will travel to major stations, with selective stoppages, will start from 4 pm onwards on May 11.
According to Indian Railways, these trains will run from the New Delhi railway station to the following destinations:
- Dibrugarh
- Agartala
- Howrah
- Patna
- Bilaspur
- Ranchi
- Bhubaneswar
- Secunderabad
- Bengaluru
- Chennai
- Thiruvananthapuram
- Madgaon
- Mumbai Central
- Ahmedabad
- Jammu Tawi
The passenger trains will have only AC coaches, and the fare structure will be similar to that of Rajdhani Express trains.
Passengers wishing to travel on these special trains will be able to book tickets only on the IRCTC website (https://www.irctc.co.in/).
Only passengers with valid confirmed tickets will be allowed to enter railway stations.
It will be mandatory for passengers to wear face cover and undergo screening at departure and only asymptomatic passengers will be allowed to board the trains.
The Indian Railways also said that it will 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.
