Indian Railways, with the online bookings on IRCTC site, has decided to start the rail service partially from May 12. From May 12, special trains will run from New Delhi to 15 cities. These trains will leave from New Delhi station for Dibrugarh, Agartala, Howrah, Patna, Bilaspur, Ranchi, Bhubaneswar, Secunderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram, Madgaon, Mumbai Central, Ahmedabad and Jammu.
The booking of tickets will start at 4 pm on May 11. After May 12, trains can start on other routes. Procedures related to health check-ups will be completed at the railway station itself.
Indian Railways said that only online tickets would be booked through IRCTC. There is no change in fare. The ticket booking window at the stations will remain closed; no counter ticket, including a platform ticket, will be issued. Travelers will be required to wear masks. All passengers will be screened. After screening, only those people will be allowed to board the train, which will not show any signs of infection with the virus.
According to the railway, catering will not be available. Indian Railways plans to gradually restart passenger train operations from May 12, 2020, initially with 15 pairs of trains. With this, the railway will gradually start special trains on other routes as well. For this, only online tickets will be booked through IRCTC.
Indian Railways has decided for the gradual resumption of passenger train services but existing Shramik special trains will continue to run as per current system on the request of the concerned state governments.
There is no change in fare. Railway has said that all will be thermal screened before the journey. Only those who have confirmed tickets will be allowed to travel. Note that no counter ticket is open in the country right now, only online ticket booking has started through IRCTC.