The Indian Railways, here on Monday, shared the list of 15 pairs of special air-conditioned trains that will start operating from May 12, almost 45 days after the services were suspended amid the nationwide lockdown to combat the coronavirus spread.
The Indian Railways on Sunday announced to run 15 pair of special AC trains from May 12 for which the tickets will be sold online by the IRCTC. The Rajdhani Express-equivalent trains will start from New Delhi for cities like Dibrugarh, Agartala, Howrah, Patna, Bilaspur, Ranchi, Bhubaneswar, Secunderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram, Madgaon, Mumbai Central, Ahmedabad and Jammu Tawi.
Of the 30 trains, 16 are daily, 8 bi-weekly, two thrice a week and four weekly. The 16 daily trains include New Delhi-Howrah, Howrah-New Delhi, New Delhi-Mumbai Central, Mumbai Central-New Delhi, New Delhi-Bengaluru, Bengaluru-New Delhi, New Delhi-Bubhaneswar, Bubhaneswar-New Delhi, New Delhi-Dibrugarh, Dibrugarh-New Delhi, Ahmedabad-New Delhi, New Delhi-Ahmedabad, New Delhi-Rajendra Nagar Terminus, Rajdendra Nagar Terminus-New Delhi, Jammu Tawi-New Delhi and New Delhi-Jammu Tawi.
The special train from New Delhi to Howrah will depart at 4.55 p.m. and stop at Asanol, Dhanbad, Gaya, Prayagraj and Kanpur central stations. The train will arrive at Howrah at 9.55 a.m. next day. On return journey, it will start from Howrah at 5.05 p.m. and reach Delhi at 10 a.m.
Similarly, the special AC train from Mumbai Central will depart at 5.30 a.m. and will reach New Delhi at 9.05 a.m. next day. The train will stop at Surat, Vadodara, Ratlam and Kota. On return journey, it will start from New Delhi at 4.55 p.m. and reach Mumbai Central at 8.45 a.m.
The train for Patna’s Rajendra Nagar Terminus will start from New Delhi at 5.15 p.m. and reach its destination at 5.30 a.m. The train will have stoppages at Kanpur Central, Prayagraj, Deen Dayal Upadhyay and Patna stations. On return journey, it will start from Rajendra Nagar Terminus at 7.20 p.m and reach New Delhi at 7.40 a.m.
The special AC from Ahmedabad will depart at 6.20 p.m. and arrive at New Delhi station at 8 a.m. The train will have its stoppages at Palanpur, Abu Road, Jaipur and Gurugram. It will start from New Delhi at 8.25 p.m. and reach Ahmedabad at 10 a.m.
The train from Bengaluru will depart at 8.30 p.m. and reach New Delhi at 5.55 a.m. It will stop at Anantpur, Guntakal, Secunderabad, Nagpur, Panvel, Vadodara and Kota. On return jounrey, it will start from New Delhi at 9.15 p.m. and reach Benagluru at 6.40 a.m.
From Dibrugarh the train will depart at 9.10 p.m. and reach New Delhi at 10.15 a.m. On return journey, it will depart from New Delhi at 4.45 p.m. and reach Dibrugarh at 7 a.m. The train will stop at Dimapur, Lumding, Guwahati, Kokrajhar, Mariani, New Jalpaiguri, Katihar, Barauni, Danapur, Prayagraj and Kanpur Central stations.
The train from New Delhi will depart at 5.05 p.m. and reach Bubhaneswar 5.25 p.m. Similarly, it will depart from Bubhaneswar at 10 a.m. and reach New Delhi at 10.45 a.m. It will stop at Balasor, Hijli, Tatanagar, Bokaro Steel City, Gaya, Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay and Kanpur Central stations.
For Jammu Tawi, the train will depart New Delhi at 9.10 p.m. and reach there at 5.45 a.m. On the return journey, it will start from Jammu Tawi at 8.10 p.m. and reach New Delhi at 5 a.m. It will stop only at Ludhiana station.
The railways said the eight biweekly trains included New Delhi-Bilaspur, Bilaspur-New Delhi, New Delhi-Chennai, Chennai-New Delhi, New delhi-Ranchi, Ranchi-New Delhi, New Delhi-Madgaon and Madgaon-New Delhi.
The special train for Bilaspur will start from New Delhi at 4 p.m. on Tuesday and Saturday and reach there at 12 p.m. On return journey, it will depart Bilaspur at 2.40 p.m. on Monday and Thursday and reach New Delhi at 10.55 a.m. It will stop at Raipur, Nagpur, Bhopal and Jhansi stations.
Similarly, for Chennai, the train will leave New Delhi at 4 p.m. on Wednesday and Friday and reach there at 8.40 p.m. On return journey, it will leave Chennai at 6.35 a.m. on Friday and Sunday and reach New Delhi at 10.30 a.m. It will stop at Vijaywada, Warangal, Nagpur, Bhopal, Jhansi and Agra stations.
For Ranchi, the train will leave New Delhi at 3.30 p.m. on Wednesday and Saturday and reach there at 10 a.m. On return journey, it will start from Ranchi at 5.40 p.m. on Thursday and Sunday and reach New Delhi at 10.55 a.m.
The train for Madgaon from New Delhi will depart at 11.25 a.m. on Friday and Saturday and reach there at 12.50 p.m. Similarly, it will leave Madgaon at 10.30 a.m. on Monday and Sunday and reach New Delhi at 12.40 p.m. The train will have stoppages at Ratnagiri, Panvel, Surat, Vadodara and Kota Junction.
The train for Thiruvananthapuram will start from New Delhi at 11.25 a.m. on Tuesday, Wednesday and Sunday and reach there at 5.25 a.m. On return journey, it will leave Thiruvananthpuram at 7.45 p.m. on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday and reach New Delhi at 12.40 p.m. The train will stop at Ernakulum, Kozhikode, Mangalore, Madgaon, Panvel, Vadodara and Kota stations.
The railways will run the weekly New Delhi-Secunderabad, Secunderabad-New Delhi, Agartala-New Delhi and New Delhi-Agartala services.
The train for Agartala will depart New Delhi at 7.50 p.m. on Wednesday and reach its destination at 1.30 p.m. On return journay, it will depart Agartala at 7 p.m. on MOnday and reach New Delhi at 11.20 a.m. It will stop at Badarpur, Guwahati, Kokrajhar, New Jalpaiguri, Katihar, Barauni, Patliputra and Kanpur Central stations.
The train for Secunderabad will depart New Delhi at 4 p.m. on Sunday and reach the destination at 2 p.m. On return journey, it will depart from Secunderabad at 1.15 p.m. on Wednesday and reach New Delhi at 10.40 a.m. It will stop at Nagpur, Bhopal and Jhansi stations.
The railways started the bookings for these trains on the IRCTC website from 6 p.m.
At New Delhi railway station, the passengers will be allowed to enter after thermal screening from Paharganj side. The passengers need to arrive 90 minutes prior to the departure of the train and bring own linen and blankets and food.