Indian Railways will resume passenger trains, starting tomorrow. In the wake of coronavirus pandemic in the country, the railways stopped passenger train services on March 22. As many as 15 special trains will run from the New Delhi to other cities
including Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai.
including Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai.
The global pandemic that infected 67,000 people in India forced railways to change how it operates trains. From wearing masks to only online tickets — if you are planning to book a train ticket, here are the changes you need to know.
1) Indian Railways will run 15 pairs of special trains each day from tomorrow. Railways shall start more special services on new routes based on availability after reserving 20,000 coaches for COVID-19 care centres and an adequate number for running up to 300 shramik specials every day.
2) The special stations will run from New Delhi railway station connecting Dibrugarh, Agartala, Howrah, Patna, Bilaspur, Ranchi, Bhubaneswar, Secunderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram, Madgaon, Mumbai Central, Ahmedabad and Jammu Tawi.
3) The tickets can only be booked by IRCTC official website or mobile app. No tatkal ticket or premium tatkal reservation will be available for these trains. The booking will be starting from today at 4 pm.
4) Only passengers with confirmed and valid tickets will be allowed to enter the station at Delhi, the Railways warned.
5) The special trains will be air-conditioned. The fare will be equivalent to Rajdhani Express fares. These train will have only a few stoppages,' the railways official said.
6) Passengers will go through a screening before boarding the train. You might need to reach station early to follow all the norms.
7) Only asymptomatic people or those who do not show any symptoms of coroanvirus will be allowed to travel.
8) Wearing masks during the journey will be mandatory. Other dos and don'ts will be mentioned in the tickets. Passengers must install Arogya Setu app to travel, according to news agency PTI.
9) In order to ensure the strict compliance of social distancing norms, all seats will not be available for booking in the passenger trains, said Union minister of state for Railways, Suresh Angadi on Monday.
10) Passengers travelling in these trains may not be given blankets and linen to reduce the chances of the spread of coronavirus, officials told PTI. There will be special norms for the air-conditioning inside the coaches.
