Passenger Trains Back On Track Tomorrow

Passenger Trains Back On Track Tomorrow

Bookings Will Open Online At 4pm Today

Dipak.Dash@timesgroup.com

New Delhi: 11.105.2020

In the first cautious step towards restoring mass transport, limited passenger train services will resume from Tuesday, connecting Delhi with 15 major cities, including Mumbai, Howrah, Patna, Bengaluru, Ahmedabad and Dibrugarh, even before the third phase of the lockdown ends. The resumption of train operations would be gradual, the railway ministry said on Sunday.

Bookings can be done only through IRCTC website and will start from 4 pm on Monday. No one will be able to purchase tickets from counters or buy platform tickets. Only asymptomatic passengers with confirmed and valid tickets will be allowed to enter the station and they will need to wear face masks. They will be allowed to travel after medical screening. People who had earlier booked tickets to travel during this period won’t be allowed to board these trains.

Sources said all trains to be operated initially will have only AC coaches with limited stops between origin and destination stations. “These trains will run like Rajdhanis and hence the fare will be equivalent to what is charged for travel in Rajdhani trains,” said a source. The frequency of services between Delhi and select cities will be almost like that of normal Rajdhani services before lockdown. “It may take a few more days to put everything in place and mobilisation of rakes to have regular service of these trains on the identified routes,” the source said.

Enforcing social distancing to be a challenging task for railways

The move may signal efforts to restore mass transport like buses, metros and airlines in the coming weeks. However, the task will be challenging given the need for social distancing and ensuring hygiene and health parameters on long distance travel involving hundreds of passengers.

In an official statement, the ministry said after starting special passenger train services, railways will start more services on new routes, based on available coaches after reserving 20,000 coaches for Covid-19 care centres and adequate number of coaches for up to 300 daily Shramik Special trains for stranded migrants. There is a possibility of early resumption of other premium trains such as Vande Bharat and Duronto.

Meanwhile, sources said railways was working on options of food and other catering services on the trains and one of the option was to provide packed food. Ministry officials said more details about the number of people to be allowed in a coach and other related information would be made available on Monday.