Indian Railways to resumes passenger train services, A list of destinations, fare, ticket rules

All the 15 trains will originate from the New Delhi railway station and the trips will include return journeys as well.

Indian Railways passenger train services back on track! Piyush Goyal-led Indian Railways has made the major decision to partially resume passenger train services from May 12, even as the nationwide Coronavirus lockdown will continue till May 17. The passenger train services will be fully reserved, with all AC coaches.

The trains will have limited stoppages en route. All the 15 trains will originate from the New Delhi railway station and the trips will include return journeys as well. When will you be able to book tickets for these special trains? Where all will these trains travel? What will be the fare structure? Here are the top 10 facts you should know:

1. To begin with, Indian Railways will run 15 trains (30 journeys to-and-fro) from the New Delhi railway station. The booking for the special trains will begin from 4PM on May 11, that is today.RELATED NEWS

2. Indian Railways special passenger train services: Full list of destinations

• Howrah
• Bengaluru
• Mumbai Central
• Chennai
• Dibrugarh
• Patna
• Bhubaneswar
• Ranchi
• Thiruvananthapuram
• Agartala
• Jammu Tawi
• Madgaon
• Secunderabad
• Ahmedabad
• Bilaspur

3. According to Indian Railways, the necessary social distancing norms will be followed while running these passenger trains. All passengers will be mandatorily required to wear face masks. They will also undergo thermal screening at the railway stations before departure of the train and only asymptomatic passengers will be allowed to undertake the journey.

4. As stated above, these trains will have only air-conditioned coaches. The fare structure will be that of Rajdhani Express trains, however clarity is awaited on whether the dynamic fare rule (allows for increasing train fares as occupancy goes up) will be applicable or not.

5. The tickets for these trains can ONLY be booked online on the IRCTC website (irctc.co.in) or the IRCTC mobile app. Booking through IRCTC and Indian Railways authorized agents will not be permitted.

6. Sale of counter tickets and platform tickets at railway stations will continue to remain closed.

7. Indian Railways has said that current booking will not be allowed for these special passenger trains.

8. There will be no provision for tatkal ticket booking or premium tatkal ticket booking for these passenger trains.

9. Indian Railways has said that only those passengers who have valid train confirmed tickets will be allowed to enter the railway stations.

10. More special passenger train services will be started basis demand and availability of coaches after reserving 20,000 coaches as isolation wards for COVID-19 patients. These trains will be separate from the Shramik special trains that Indian Railways is running to help in the movement of stranded migrants.