Indian Railways to gradually restart operations with 15 passenger trains from May 12

In a major announcement, the Indian Railways said it plans to gradually restart passenger train operations from May 12, 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. 

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In a statement, the Ministry of Railways said the state-run transporter shall start more special services on new routes, based on the available coaches after reserving 20,000 coaches for COVID-19 care centres and an adequate number of coaches being reserved to enable operation of up to 300 trains every day as “Shramik Special” for stranded migrants.

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Booking for reservation on these trains will start at 4 pm on Monday and will be available only on the IRCTC website. However, ticket booking counters at the railway stations will remain shut and no counter tickets (including platform tickets) will be issued. Only passengers with valid confirmed tickets will be allowed to enter the railway stations.

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Screening before departure

In line with the government's hygiene norms, it will be mandatory for passengers to wear face cover. They will also have to 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 said.

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