Railways to resume select passengers services from May 12, initially 15 trains to hit tracks

New Delhi: In a major announcement, the Indian Railways today said that 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.

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

Thereafter, Railways will start more special services on new routes. 20,000 coaches have been reserved as 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 11th May and will be available only on the IRCTC website (https://www.irctc.co.in/). Ticket booking counters at the railway stations shall remain closed and no counter tickets (including platform tickets) shall be issued.

Only passengers with valid confirmed tickets will be allowed to enter the railway stations. Passengers will have to wear face cover and undergo screening at departure and only asymptomatic passengers will be allowed to board the train.