Indian Railways starts operation of special trains amid coronavirus COVID-19 lockdown

Indian Railways will restart passenger train operations with special trains beginning operation from New Delhi connecting Dibrugarh, Agartala, Howrah, Patna, Bilaspur, Ranchi, Bhubaneswar, Secunderabad,Bengaluru,Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram, Madgaon, Mumbai Central, Ahmedabad & Jammu Tawi on Tuesday.

NEW DELHI: Indian Railways on Tuesday (May 12, 2020) restarted the passenger train services with special trains beginning operation from New Delhi connecting various cities like Dibrugarh, Agartala, Howrah, Patna, Bilaspur, Ranchi, Bhubaneswar, Secunderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram, Madgaon, Mumbai Central, Ahmedabad and Jammu Tawi amid the ongoing coronavirus lockdown.

The Indian Railways had on Monday said that it will run at least 30 trains  - 15 pairs of return trips which will be carrying passengers from one destination to another. The trains will run from New Delhi railway station to other cities including Mumbai, Bangalore, and Chennai.

Out of these, three trains will run from New Delhi terminating at Dibrugarh, Bengaluru and Bilaspur, and one each from Howrah, Rajendra Nagar (Patna), Bengaluru, Mumbai Central and Ahmedabad which will all terminate at Delhi. It also informed that it will now run 100 'Shramik Special' trains daily to facilitate faster movement of workers, adding that 513 such trains have been operated since May 1 ferrying home over six lakh migrants stranded in various parts of the country amid the coronavirus lockdown.

Here's the full list of trains with timing and destination details:

S.No.	Train No			From	Dep.Time			To	Arr.Time			Frequency
1	2301			Howrah	1705			New Delhi	1000			Daily
2	2302			New Delhi	1655			Howrah	955			Daily
3	2951			Mumbai Central	1730			New Delhi	905			Daily
4	2952			New Delhi	1655			Mumbai Central	845			Daily
5	2957			Ahmedabad	1820			New Delhi	800			Daily
6	2958			New Delhi	2025			Ahmedabad	1005			Daily
7	2309			Rajendranagar   (T) (Patna)	1920			New Delhi	740			Daily
8	2310			New Delhi	1715			Rajendranagar   (T) (Patna)	530			Daily
9	2691			Bengaluru	2030			New Delhi	555			Daily
10	2692			New Delhi	2115			Bengaluru	640			Daily
11	2424			New Delhi	1645			Dibrugarh	700			Daily
12	2423			Dibrugarh	2110			New Delhi	1015			Daily
13	2442			New Delhi	1600			Bilaspur	1200			Biweekly
14	2441			Bilaspur	1440			New Delhi	1055			Biweekly
15	2823			Bhubaneswar	1000			New Delhi	1045			Daily
16	2824			New Delhi	1705			Bhubaneswar	1725			Daily
17	2425			New Delhi	2110			Jammu Tawi	545			Daily
18	2426			Jammu Tawi	2010			New Delhi	500			Daily
19	2434			New Delhi	1600			Chennai   Central	2040			Biweekly   (W, F)
20	2433			Chennai   Central	635			New Delhi	1030			Biweekly   (F, Su)
21	2454			New Delhi	1530			Ranchi	1000			Biweekly   (W, S)
22	2453			Ranchi	1740			New Delhi	1055			Biweekly   (Th, Su)
23	2414			New Delhi	1125			Madgaon	1250			Biweekly   (F, S)
24	2413			Madgaon	1030			New Delhi	1240			Biweekly   (M, Su)
25	2438			New Delhi	1600			Secunderabad	1400			Weekly   (Sun)
26	2437			Secunderabad	1315			New Delhi	1040			Weekly   (Wed)
27	2432			New Delhi	1125			Thiruvananthapuram	525			Triweekly   (T, W, Su)
28	2431			Thiruvananthapuram	1945			New Delhi	1240			Triweekly   (T, Th, F)
29	2501			Agartala	1900			New Delhi	1120			Weekly   (Mon)
30	2502			New Delhi	1950			Agartala	1330			Weekly   (Wed)

The India Railways also issued new guidelines for traveling on these special trains from Tuesday (May 12), asking passengers to carry their own food and linen and arrive at stations at least 90 minutes before departure for health screening.

It also said all passengers must wear face masks during the journey and preferably travel light. The Railways, which has announced the resumption of a limited number of passenger services after a hiatus of around 50 days due to the ongoing lockdown, said the trains to ply from Tuesday will be air-conditioned and will run on full-capacity on the Rajdhani routes from Delhi to all major cities.

The first passenger train to roll out after the unprecedented interval in operations is scheduled to leave the New Delhi railway station for Bilaspur in Chhattisgarh at 4 PM on Tuesday. These special trains will only have AC classes i.E. First, second and third AC. Since the trains will be operated amidst a lockdown, only passengers with confirmed e-tickets shall be allowed to enter the stations.

The fares will be equivalent to Rajdhani trains and passengers can book tickets up to seven days in advance. However, no RAC, waiting list ticket or on-board booking by ticket-checking staff will be permitted, the Railways said.

Online cancellation of tickets shall be permitted up to 24 hours before the scheduled departure of the train, but the cancellation charge shall be 50 per cent of the fare. The movement of passengers as well as of the drivers of vehicles transporting them to and from the railway stations shall be allowed on the basis of the confirmed e-tickets, it said.

The Railways said there will be special norms for air-conditioning inside the coaches and temperatures will be kept slightly higher than the usual. Maximum supply of fresh air will be ensured.

The IRCTC website began booking tickets for travel on special trains after 6 pm, two hours behind the schedule due to a technical glitch but all AC-1 and AC-3 tickets for the Howrah-New Delhi train were sold within the first 10 minutes.

By 7:30 PM, 18,000 tickets had been booked for trains departing on May 12, most of them for the Howrah-Delhi route 8900.

The Howrah-New Delhi train is scheduled to begin its journey Tuesday from Howrah at 5:05 pm.
As per the ticket availability on the website, all AC-1 and AC-3 tickets for the Bhubaneswar-New Delhi special train on May 13 were also sold by 6.30 pm.
By 9.15 pm, approximately 30,000 PNRs had been generated and reservations issued to more than 54,000 passengers, the railways said.

According to the timetable issued by the Railways, the trains will run either daily, weekly or bi-weekly from May 12 to 20 as of now. There are no trains scheduled on May 16 and May 19.

Bookings will be available only on the IRCTC website (www.Irctc.Co.In) for the general quota passengers, while bare minimum reservation counters will be open on the routes of these special trains for MPs and freedom fighters among others.

Concessions in ticket fares can only be availed by patients, students, and people with disabilities while no concessions for senior citizens are applicable, the Railways said. Railways has also earmarked reservation quota of two berths in 3AC for Divyangjans and two berths in 1AC and four berths in 2AC for sitting and former MPs, the officials said.

The tickets, officials said, would have details of the 'dos and don'ts' passengers need to follow -- such as arriving at the station at least 90 minutes in advance for screening and use of the Aarogya Setu mobile app. Only asymptomatic passengers will be allowed to board the trains. Also, no 'current booking' will be allowed, the order said.

The Railways has instructed zonal railways to ensure that there are separate entry and exit gates at stations "to the extent feasible" to avoid face-to-face movement of passengers. It also said no stalls or booths on the platforms shall be opened.

All passenger train services were suspended due to a countrywide lockdown since March 25. The Railways later started Shramik Specials to ferry migrant labourers stranded across the country. It, however, has been running freight and parcel services non-stop.

(With Agency Inputs)