In an interesting decision, Indian Railways has resumed bookings of passenger trains, for journeys after April 15th.
As per Railways officials, since the lockdown has been imposed till April 14th, and there is no more news of any lockdown from the Govt, they have resumed the bookings.
Rail Bookings Start For April 15th Onwards Journeys
As per some Railways officials, the bookings for passenger trains for journeys after April 15th has started, but not all sectors will go live simultaneously.
It seems Railways will start the bookings sector wise, based on Govt directives.
An unnamed Railways Offcial said, “IRCTC is accepting booking from April 15, naturally when the lockdown is till April 14. We will have to bring back the work force gradually, we will start opening up passenger trains slowly.”
This is a clear hint that Railways is all set to resume the operations from April 15th, but its not yet clear which sectors will get the green signal, from April 15th.
Which Sectors Will Have Bookings Accepted?
We tried checking the busiest route of Indian Railways: Mumbai to New Delhi, and found that one can book tickets in several trains, including Rajdhani Express, on and after April 15th.
For another busy route: New Delhi to Kolkata, we found the bookings open. Infact, for April 15th, Sealdah Rajdhani has RAC for April 15th!
This means that the passengers are already booking their tickets, and IRCTC is allowing them.
Due to the lockdown, Railways had cancelled all trains, across India, till April 14th, which is the last day of the nation-wide lockdown.
Parcel Van Services Resumed
Meanwhile, since last Sunday, that is March 29th, Indian Railways have resumed their parcel van services, across some sectors.
The sectors where parcel van services were resumed are: New Delhi-Gauhati, New Delhi-Mumbai, New Delhi-Kalyan, New Delhi-Howrah, Chandigarh-Jaipur and Moga-Chhangsari routes.
This was done to make sure that the essential goods like vegetables, milk, dairy products are being transported, without any issue. Besides, for the seamless movement of medical supplies as well this was needed.
