Initially, there will be 15 pairs of trains from New Delhi Station connecting 15 important cities of the country. Booking for reservation will start at 4 pm today and will be available only on IRCTC website and mobile app.
New Delhi: The Indian Railways will gradually restart passenger train operations from May 12, initially with 15 pairs of trains, the national transporter said Sunday.
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.
The train services were suspended from March 22, on the day when Janata Curfew was imposed in the nation.
The railways ministry informed that all passenger trains will be run with AC coaches only and with limited stoppages. The fare will be equivalent to the ticket fare that is charged for Rajdhani Train.
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After the resumption of these 15 services, railways will start more special services on new routes, based on the available coaches after reserving 20,000 coaches for COVID-19 care centres and adequate number of coaches being reserved to enable operation of up to 300 trains everyday as “Shramik Special” for stranded migrants.
Booking for reservation in these trains will start at 4 pm on May 11 and will be available only on the IRCTC website (https://www.irctc.co.in/).
Ticket booking counters at railway stations will remain closed and no counter tickets (including platform tickets) will be issued, it said.
Only passengers with valid confirmed tickets will be allowed to enter railway stations. It will be mandatory for passengers to wear face cover and undergo screening at departure and only asymptomatic passengers will be allowed to board the trains.