Indian Railways will start 30 special trains from tomorrow; booking reservation from today 4pm onwards

DELHI: With entry in the last week of the third phase of nationwide lockdown, the Ministry of Railways has announced that the Indian railways will restart operations of the passenger trains from May 12. 

It further stated that the strength of the trains on track will increase ‘gradually’, with 15 pairs of trains each day in the beginning.

The railway ministry further told that 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.

In a statement, it was said that more special services on new routes shall be started by the Railways based on the availability of coaches after reserving 20,000 coaches for COVID-19 care centres. Meanwhile, requisite coaches have been reserved for enabling operation of nearly 300 trains everyday for the stranded migrant workers known as the “Shamik Special”.

Important guidelines issued 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.
  
• Passengers to reach the station at least an hour before departure to ensure security clearance, screening and other Covid-19 protocols

• It is compulsory for all the passengers to wear face cover and get screened at the departure.

• Only asymptomatic passengers will be allowed to board the train. 

Booking timings

Booking for reservations in these trains can be done online only through IRCTC. The tickets can be booked from 11th May at 4pm onwards. 

Fare details

The fare will be equivalent to Rajdhani Express train and all the coaches will be all AC with limited stoppage.

As many as 52 passengers will be allowed in AC three-tier coaches, while in AC two-tier coaches, 48 passengers will be allowed in order to follow the protocol of social distancing amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Railway Ministry’s Executive Director, Media, Rajesh Dutt Bajpai, said in a statement.

List of Trains

The Indian Railways had suspended its operations since 25th March which continued till 3rd May as a prevention measure in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic. However, special trains for the migrant workers started running from 1st May.