New Delhi
IRCTC Train List, Route: Nearly two months after it suspended its passenger operations in view of the coronavirus-induced lockdown, the Railways on Sunday announced that it will gradually restart its passenger train operations from May 12. The decision was taken a day ago at a high level meeting of government and states with Cabinet Secretary, sources said, adding that the final touches of the crucial move were prepared on Sunday evening. In the midst of the lockdown, Railways has so far operated its freight services to transport essential goods across the country and ‘Special Shramik’ trains to ferry stranded migrant workers to their home states.
Railways is planning 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.
When will the booking start and where will it be available?
The 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 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. It will be mandatory for the passenger to wear face cover and undergo screening at departure and only asymptomatic passengers will be allowed to board the train.
Details, including train schedule, will be issued separately in due course.
Are these separate from Shramik Specials and will there be more trains?
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 every day as ‘Shramik Special’ for stranded migrants. The existing ‘Shramik special’ trains will continue to run as per the current system on the request of the concerned state governments.
Will be there by any concessions? How much will a ticket cost?
No concession will be allowed on the trains. The fares of these trains will be that of Rajdhani trains, which means all these will be all air-conditioned trains and will be available on premium fares.
