Indian Railways has decided to gradually restart the operations of passenger trains from May 12.
The railway authority has planned to resume the passenger train services 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.
Thereafter, Indian Railways will restart more special services on new routes, based on the available coaches after reserving 20,000 coaches for COVID19 care centres.
Adequate coaches are also being reserved to enable operation of up to 300 trains everyday as “Shramik Special” for stranded migrants, said the Railway Ministry in a statement.
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/), said the statement.
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, the ministry said.
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 ministry further said.