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New Delhi- Bilaspur train enters railway records as 1st to resume service during Covid lockdown
A total of eight trains have resumed regular passenger operations.
The Indian Railways passengers’ service resumed in a graded manner on Tuesday afternoon with the flagging off of the New Delhi-Bilaspur special train from the New Delhi railway station at 4pm. The 02441 Rajdhani express to Chhattisgarh’s capital thus registered itself as the first regular passenger train to operate since March 22, when all interstate and suburban railway services were suspended to augment India’s coronavirus containment efforts. The Northern Railway described it as a historic moment.
“Historic Moment! New Delhi-Bilaspur Rajdhani Superfast train (No-02441) registers itself as the first train to resume coaching operations on Indian Railways today, which were temporarily suspended due to #COVIDLockdown,” it tweeted.
The train to Bilaspur is among the three special trains that will leave from New Delhi today. A total of 3461 passengers are travelling on the three trains—New Delhi Bilaspur, New Delhi Diburgarh and New Delhi- Bengaluru.
A total of 1,177 passengers are booked on the Bilaspur Rajdhani, while 1,122 passengers are booked the train to Dibrugarh and a total of 1,162 passengers are booked on the New Delhi- Bengaluru train, said a government release.
“Total 741 PNRs were generated for 1177 passengers travelling in the New Delhi Bilaspur special train; total 442 PNRs were generated for 1122 passengers travelling in New Delhi Dibrugarh special train and total 804 PNRs were generated for 1162 passengers are travelling in New Delhi- Bengaluru special train,” reported ministry of railways.
Indian railways is also running Shramik Special trains, which are not a regular service, to ferry stranded migrant labourers to their home states.
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Five other trains from different destinations will head for New Delhi today. They are 02301 Howrah- New Delhi, 02951 Mumbai Central-New Delhi, 02957 Ahmedabad-New Delhi, 02309 Rajendranagar (Patna)-New Delhi, 02691 Bengaluru—New Delhi.
The railway services have been resumed with the twin purpose of boosting economic activities and allowing people to undertake necessary travel while maintaining strict protocols for passenger safety and prevention of the spread of the disease.
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The railways have indicated that the resumption of rail services will be graded and are some distance away from a complete restoration. The railways have also made it clear that the resumption will depend upon its assessment of requirement and the availability of coaches, since several wagons are already reserved, including 20,000 that have been converted into mobile Covid-19 Care Centres for emergency deployment and another few thousand that are being used to run Shramik Special services.
