A train that left the New Delhi station at 11:30am on Wednesday will chug its way to Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala, bringing with it many who had been stranded after the Centre enforced a lockdown throughout the country in the aftermath of coronavirus outbreak.
One of the fifteen special passengers trains that have been given the go-ahead to run despite the lockdown, it will make its return on May 15 at 7:45pm from Thiruvananthapuram station.
On Tuesday, after the Indian Railways resumed its special passenger services, New Delhi railway station saw the departure of two trains for Bilaspur and Dibrugarh, around 50 days after the nationwide lockdown caused the suspension of the national carrier. It carried 2,299 passengers.
Strict measures are in place to ensure the safety of all. The Railways regulated passengers even before the entry to the station. The passengers who boarded these special trains were prompted to sanitise their hands at the entry gates, wear masks and carry minimal baggage.
As they entered the station, the officials guided them to their designated coaches resulting in a minimal crowd at platforms.
The Northern Railways said in a statement that entry to the New Delhi railway station will be allowed only from the Paharganj side for all confirmed ticket holders and no entry for passengers will be permitted from the Ajmeri Gate side.
Schedule:
On May 13, eight trains will depart from the national capital for Howrah, Rajendra Nagar, Jammu Tawi, Thiruvananthapuram, Chennai, Ranchi, Mumbai Central and Ahmedabad. Another train will leave Bhubaneswar for New Delhi.
On May 14, the only train leaving the New Delhi railway station will head to Bhubaneswar, while one train each will leave Dibrugarh, Jammu Tawi, Bilaspur and Ranchi for the national capital.
On May 15, one train each will leave Thiruvananthapuram and Chennai Central for New Delhi while one bound for Madgaon will depart from New Delhi.
As per the timetable, no train is scheduled on May 16 and May 19.
Passenger services from Madgaon to New Delhi and New Delhi to Secunderabad will resume on May 17.
The only train scheduled on May 18 is from Agartala to New Delhi, while two trains scheduled on May 20 are from New Delhi to Agartala and Secunderabad to New Delhi.
Guidelines:
The officials said, as per the guidelines, e-tickets issued by the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) will work as an e-pass for the movement of drivers to and from the station to pick or drop passengers.
Bookings will be available only on the IRCTC's website (www.irctc.co.in) for general quota passengers, while bare minimum reservation counters will be open on the routes of these special train for parliamentarians, freedom fighters and others who can book their tickets there.
Concessions can only be availed by patients, students and people with disabilities while no concessions for senior citizens are applicable.
The 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 parliamentarians.
On arrival at the destination, passengers will have to adhere to health protocols prescribed by the destination state/union territory, they said.
Under normal circumstances, the New Delhi railway station is one of the busiest stations in the country. A total of 351 trains arrive/depart from this station daily with a footfall of more than 5.20 lakh passengers each day.
Test run
After the resumption of these 15 services, 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 an adequate number of coaches being reserved to enable operation of up to 300 trains every day as Shramik Special for stranded migrants.
Last week, the Railways started operating special services to ferry migrant labourers stranded in various states to their homeland.
The railways will now run 100 'Shramik Special' trains daily to facilitate faster movement of workers, the Centre said on Monday, adding that 602 "Shramik Special" trains have been operated since May 1 to ferry home seven lakh migrants stranded in various parts of the country amid the coronavirus-induced lockdown.