On the 1st of June, Indian Railways resumed train services for public with 200 special trains.
The National Transport authority and Railway Ministry, conducted a meeting over the resumption of train services and said trains would run as per schedule.
However, a few minor changes would be made in terms of number of stops in States like Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra.
The high level meeting, which was conducted at the Railway headquarters to discuss the concerns raised by opposition over the increasing cases of the Novel Coronavirus.
States which raised concern are Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. A Railway spokesperson said, “Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra have expressed reservations about running of trains or number of stoppages as planned. The matter is being discussed with the states. Any further development in this regard will be intimated.”
In regard to this, Andhra Pradesh requested 22 train arrivals and one halt at an intermediary station along with the terminating station.
Meanwhile, Jharkhand asked for less trains with fewer station stoppages.
The South Central railway, under which Andhra Pradesh falls released a statement on the night of the 31st of May. The release read, “All passenger movements where both the boarding and deboarding station for a passenger falls within the state of Andhra Pradesh stands restricted under further advice,”
In addition, full refund was promised to the passengers who booked train tickets for intra state trains.
It also said that till further notice, intra-state bookings within Maharashtra should not be permitted, which means, a passenger could not deboard a train within state borders.
The special 200 trains resumed from 12:00 A.M., on the 1st of June and approximately 1.5 lakh people booked tickets to travel through this train today.
However, this time, train rules are different from previous ways, as sanitization, face masks and thermal screenings would be mandatory. Passengers travelling with these special trains are advised to have the Aarogya Setu app, own food and water, as the pantry would be closed.
The other major thing to remember is passengers need to reach the railway station an hour before the departure time to avoid chaos and the smooth process of thermal screening.
Meanwhile, Unlock 1 or Lockdown 5.0., began from the 1st of June and is proposed to end on the 30th of June.
