Booking for the trains will start from 4 PM today and will be available online only on the website of the IRTC or through its mobile application
MUMBAI| On Sunday Indian Railway announced it will gradually start passenger trains for migrants to return to their respective states. From May 12 initially with 15 pairs of trains will run on tracks.
Booking for the trains will start from 4 PM on May 11 and will be available online i.e only on the website of the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporating (IRTC) or through its mobile application.
List of trains which will start from May 12:
1. New Delhi to Dibrugarh
2. New Delhi to Agartala
3. New Delhi to Howrah
4. New Delhi to Patna
5. New Delhi to Bilaspur
6. New Delhi to Ranchi
7. New Delhi to Bhubaneswar
8. New Delhi to Secunderabad
9. New Delhi to Bengaluru
10. New Delhi to Chennai
11. New Delhi to Thiruvananthapuram
12. New Delhi to Madgaon
13. New Delhi to Mumbai Central
14. New Delhi to Ahmedabad
15. New Delhi to Jammu Tawi
Along with these trains, Shramik Special Trains began on May 1 will continue to run. The Indian Railways shall start more special services on new routes, based the availability of coaches after reserving 20,000 of them for COVID-19 care centres and to enable operation of up to 300 trains every day as Shramik Special for stranded migrants, the railway’s ministry has said.
Passenger trains have remained shut since March 25, will start with 15 “Special” Trains departing from Delhi and connecting cities in Assam, Bengal, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Jammu, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Tripura.
The Centre had given permission for only freight trains and special parcel trains to ply during the COVID-19 lockdown. Later, the government had allowed special military trains and Shramik Specials for ferrying stranded migrants.
Only passengers with confirmed and valid tickets will be allowed to enter the station at Delhi, with strict rules to wear a mask and have to go under screening at the departure maintaining social distancing at all times.
All trains will run with AC coaches only and will have a limited stoppage. Details regarding train schedule will be issued in due course, the Railways added.
Railways Minister Piyush Goyal tweeted confirmation: “Railways plans to gradually restart passenger train operations from May 12, 2020, initially with 15 pairs of special trains connecting New Delhi with major stations across India. Booking on these trains will start at 4 pm on May 11”.
Railways plans to gradually restart passenger train operations from 12th May, 2020, initially with 15 pairs of special trains connecting New Delhi with major stations across India. Booking in these trains will start at 4 pm on 11th May.https://t.co/DW9I1sPRx6
— Piyush Goyal (@PiyushGoyal) May 10, 2020
Former Economy Minister P. Chidambaram said, “We welcome the decision of the government to cautiously start operations of interstate passenger trains. The same modest opening should be started with road transport and air transport. The only way economic and commercial activity can effectively begin, is to open road, rail and air services for passengers and goods.
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