A day after the Indian Railways decided to restart the passenger train services amid the coronavirus COVID-19 lockdown, three special trains with 3,461 passengers will depart on Tuesday from New Delhi. The Indian Railways had on May 11 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 three trains--New Delhi-Bilaspur special train with 1,177 passengers; New Delhi-Dibrugarh special train with 1,122 passengers and New Delhi-Bengaluru special train with 1,162 passengers, will operate on Tuesday.
Indian Railways on Tuesday 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.
With the departure of the 02442 New Delhi-Bilaspur from New Delhi Railway Station as a first special train, the restoration of passenger train services on Indian Railways will start in a graded manner after the suspension of passenger train services due to COVID-19. Another five special trains will depart from other cities towards New Delhi. These special train services shall be in addition to the shramik special trains run by Indian Railways.
A total of 741 PNRs were generated for 1,177 passengers travelling in the New Delhi-Bilaspur special train; total 442 PNRs were generated for 1,122 passengers travelling in New Delhi-Dibrugarh special train and total 804 PNRs were generated for 1,162 passengers travelling in New Delhi- Bengaluru special train.
On Tuesday, total eight trains will depart from various cities including New Delhi. The details of the trains are--Howrah-New Delhi (02301), Mumbai Central-New Delhi (0295); Ahmedabad-New Delhi (02957); Rajendranagar (T)-New Delhi (02309); Bengaluru-New Delhi (02691); New Delhi-Bengaluru (02692); New Delhi-Dibrugarh (02424); and New Delhi-Bilaspur (02442).
The India Railways also issued new guidelines for travelling on these special trains 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.
