by Deepika Notani
Due to the wake of COVID 19, India was under lockdown. The novel COVID-19 identified in late 2019 was labelled as a global pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO). The Coronavirus outbreak, however, has improved the environment. The entire world is going through distress due to the spread of this infectious disease.
India banned all the movement of transport till lockdown3.0, and after this, the mission began. Passenger trains operation started from 12th May, with starting 15 pairs of trains. These passenger train which started during the wake of coronavirus were named SPECIAL TRAINS, started from New Delhi railway station connecting to 15 different cities of the country. These train helped all the migrant workers and the people who were stuck in different states to reach their homes. As the movement of people and transport started in between the lockdown, the cases started increasing rapidly. In May, IRCTC started 200 special trains booking and now, Indian railway is planning to start 45 pairs of trains (90 new special train) in the coming week.
Currently, 230 special trains are already plying on various routes. As commercial passenger train are suspended till August 12. Indian railway has already sent the proposal for a special train to the home ministry for approval. For travelling on these special train the passengers have to book 120 days before the date of journey. Indian railway is taking strict care and putting special emphasis on the regular sanitization of the coaches, berths and toilets of special trains. Passengers will have to come 90 minutes earlier to board these train after a proper scan at the station with the masks and gloves being mandatory. Here is the tentative list of the special train that may start soon in the coming week after getting the clearance from the ministry of home affairs.
Trains from Delhi
New Delhi-Amritsar
Old Delhi- Ferozepur
Delhi Sarai Rohilla-Porbandar
Delhi-Bhagalpur
New Delhi-Chandigarh
Delhi-Ghazipur City Train to Ballia
Jodhpur-Delhi
Kamakhya-Delhi
Dibrugarh-New Delhi
Gorakhpur-Delhi
Indore-New Delhi
Muzaffarpur-Anand Vihar, this train will go to Old Delhi
Habibganj-New Delhi
Lucknow-New Delhi
Madhupur-Old Delhi
Trains via Delhi
Kota-Dehradun-Nanda Devi
Dibrugarh-Amritsar
Dibrugarh-Lalgarh
Muzaffarpur-Porbandar
Yeshwantpur-Bikaner
However, the increase in the number of special trains is an indication for picking up economic activity. Hence the government is keeping a close watch on the COVID 19 spread. Hindustan Times reported citing unnamed sources that an action plan is being prepared on the number of passengers on these routes, ways to prevent the spread of coronavirus infections and adequate means of investigation, expenses etc before these trains are run. No final decision regarding the stoppage and route has been taken yet, it reported.
Image Credits:- Times of India
