Indian Railways to re-start with limited number of trains starting tomorrow

Indian railways is all set to begin their operations with limited number of trains from tomorrow. In a statement released on Sunday, railways confirmed this almost five days before the national lockdown ends. Only online bookings will be taken and it will start today from 4 pm today. Bookings cannot be done through agents. Ticket counters at all railway stations will also remain closed.

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- Piyush Goyal, Union railway minister.

To begin with, 15 pairs of trains will be introduced. They will make return journeys too. Trains will start from Delhi connecting many important stations across India. This includes Thiruvananthapuram, Bengaluru, Chennai, Secunderabad, Howrah, Mumbai, Agartala, Bhubaneswar, Ranchi, Howrah, Bilaspur, Madgaon, Ahmedabad, Jammu Tawi, Dibrugarh, and Patna.

Railways have also given strict guidelines for travellers. This includes using face masks and social distancing. Tests will be done for those who board the trains. If any symptoms of COVID-19 is found, they will not be allowed to board.

Indian railways stopped running trains from 24 March when Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a complete lockdown of the nation. From first week of May, they started plying trains for migrant workers to return back to their homes. The railways had clearly stated that all trains will start running only after the lockdown is removed and a declaration is made from the government.

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