The Indian Railways will partially resume air-conditioned passenger train services from May 12 with ticket bookings for 15 pairs of trains, including to Howrah, set to start from 4pm on Monday.
Tickets will only be available on the IRCTC website (www.irctc.co.in). Ticket counters, including those for platform tickets, at all stations will remain closed. PTI reported that passengers will be asked to arrive at the station at least an hour before departure.
Sources said the trains would have select stops and, initially, the passenger trains would only have AC coaches. Initially, the services will begin on 15 Rajdhani routes and the fare would be equivalent to that of a super-fast train, the railways said.
Passenger services, suspended since the coronavirus lockdown that began on March 25, will start with 15 special trains (for a total of 30 journeys) departing from New Delhi Railway Station on Tuesday, five days before the extended lockdown’s scheduled end on May 17.
The trains from New Delhi will head to Dibrugarh, Agartala, Howrah, Patna, Bilaspur, Ranchi, Bhubaneswar, Secunderabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram, Madgaon, Mumbai Central, Ahmedabad and Jammu Tawi.
The tickets will have dos and don’ts for passengers. Only passengers with valid and confirmed tickets will be allowed to enter railway stations. It will be mandatory for passengers to wear masks and undergo screening at the point of departure. Only asymptomatic passengers will be allowed to board the trains.
Officials said unlike the Shramik Specials meant for migrant workers, in which only 54 passengers are allowed instead of the regular 72, these trains will run on full capacity.
Officials said passengers travelling in these trains might not be given blankets and linen in order to reduce the chances of the virus spreading.
The railways will start more services on new routes, based on coaches available, after reserving 20,000 for Covid-19 care centres and an adequate number for 300 trains daily for the migrants.
Additional reporting by PTI
