Food to blankets & bookings to cancellation: Railways answers FAQs on Covid train travel

Indian Railways has resumed passenger train operations from May 12, initially with 15 pairs of trains, weeks after se were suspended due to coronavirus-triggered lockdown. Central government on Tuesday shared detailed guidelines for passengers willing to avail services. 

se 15 pairs of special trains from New Delhi station will connect 15 cities, y are Dibrugarh, Agartala, Howrah, Patna, Bilaspur, Ranchi, Bhubaneswar, Secunderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram, Madgaon, Mumbai Central, Ahmedabad, and Jammu Tawi. se trains are in addition to Sharamik Special Trains for transporting stranded people to places of ir choice. 

se trains are identical to Rajdhani Express in terms of fare, speed, and route. Ticket booking counters at railway stations shall remain closed and counter tickets (including platform tickets) shall be issued.  booking for reservation on se trains have started from May 11 and will be available only on IRCTC website (https://www.irctc.co.in/)

Here's all you need to kw about guidelines issued:

Meanwhile, hundreds of passengers from Gujarat and Rajasthan reached New Delhi on Wednesday on first train to arrive in national capital since resumption of railway services, as a large number of m gared on roads outside station with transport available for onward journeys.  train departed from Ahmedabad at 6:30 pm on Tuesday and reached New Delhi at 8 am. Many passengers stood clueless outside railway station, while some tried to convince local cab drivers to take m home in various states.

602 Shramik Special trains run so far

railways have operated 602 "Shramik Special" trains since May 1 and ferried home seven lakh migrants stranded in various parts of country amid coronavirus-induced lockdown, officials said on Tuesday. On Monday, a statement issued by Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said railways will w run 100 "Shramik Special" trains on a daily basis to facilitate faster movement of workers.

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Of 575 trains run till 4 pm Tuesday, 463 have reached ir destinations and 112 are in transit. 463 trains were terminated in various states, including Uttar Pradesh (221), Bihar (117), Madhya Pradesh (38), Odisha (29), Jharkhand (27), Rajasthan (four), Maharashtra (three), Telangana and West Bengal (two each), and Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu (one each).

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trains have ferried migrants to cities such as Tiruchirappalli, Titlagarh, Barauni, Khandwa, Jagannathpur, Khurda Road, Allahabad, Chhapra, Balia, Gaya, Purnia, Varanasi, Darbhanga, Gorakhpur, Luckw, Jaunpur, Hatia, Basti, Katihar, Danapur, Muzaffarpur and Saharsa.

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(With PTI inputs)