- Indian Railways on Wednesday said that all passengers trains will remain suspended, except special trains
- Railways had suspended passenger train services since March 22 to mitigate the virus spread in the country
New Delhi: The Indian Railways today suspended all the passengers trains, barring the Shramik Special services and 30 special trains, till further notice. Railways cancelled all tickets booked to travel on or before June 30, the railway ministry said. All tickets booked for these cancelled trains will be fully refunded, the national transporter added.
The railways had suspended passenger train services since March 22 to mitigate the virus spread in the country.
The Indian Railways “gradually” resumed passenger train services this week by introducing 30 special trains connecting Delhi and other major cities in India. These trains will run from New Delhi station to Dibrugarh, Agartala, Howrah, Patna, Bilaspur, Ranchi, Bhubaneswar, Secunderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram, Madgaon, Mumbai Central, Ahmedabad and Jammu Tawi.
These trains have only air-conditioned coaches. The fares will be similar to Rajdhani Express fares, a railway ministry official said.
Passengers bought over 45,000 tickets on Monday when the Indian Railways started taking bookings for the special trains. All tickets for Mumbai Central-New Delhi special train till May 18 were sold out within few minutes.
The railways issued a timetable for trains to be run between May 12 and May 20. Passengers have to book tickets for special trains via Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation or IRCTC website or mobile app. The ticket booking counters at railway stations shall remain closed in the wake of novel coronavirus pandemic. No provision of tatkal or premium tatkal accommodation will be available.
Only passengers with valid confirmed tickets will be allowed to enter the railway stations. No platforms tickets will be issued. All the travellers must wear a face mask and undergo thorough screenings at the stations. Passengers need to install Aarogya Setu app to board the trains.
The passengers will go through a screening before boarding the train. You have to reach station at least 90 minutes prior to the scheduled journey to follow all these new norms. Only asymptomatic people or those who do not show any symptoms of coroanvirus will be allowed to travel.
Starting this month, Indian Railways arranged special trains for migrant labourers stranded in various states due to coronavirus lockdown. The transporter has run over 600 Shramik Special trains till now to ferry migrant workers.
