No linen, only packaged food, arrival 90 minutes early at stations

New Delhi : The Railways has issued new guidelines for travel on 15 pairs of special trains from May 12, asking passengers to carry their own food and linen and arrive at stations at least 90 minutes before departure for health screening.

It also said all passengers must wear face masks during the journey and preferably travel light.

The Railways, which has announced resumption of a limited number of passenger services after an almost 50-day hiatus due to an ongoing lockdown, said the trains to run from Tuesday will be air-conditioned and will run on full-capacity on Rajdhani routes, from Delhi to all major cities.

It said it will run eight trains on May 12 -- three from New Delhi terminating at Dibrugarh, Bengaluru and Bilaspur.

And one each from Howrah, Rajendra Nagar (Patna), Bengaluru, Mumbai Central and Ahmedabad which will all terminate at Delhi.

These special trains will only have AC classes i.e. first, second and third AC. Since the trains will be operated amidst a lockdown, only passengers with confirmed e-tickets shall be allowed to enter the stations. The fares will be equivalent to Rajdhani trains and passengers can book tickets up to seven days in advance.

However, no RAC, waiting list ticket or on-board booking by ticket-checking staff will be permitted, the Railways said. Online cancellation of tickets shall be permitted up to 24 hours before the scheduled departure of the train, but the cancellation charge shall be 50 per cent of the fare.

The movement of passengers as well as that of the driver of the vehicle transporting them to and from the railway station shall be allowed on the basis of the confirmed e-ticket, it said.

The Railways said there will be special norms for air-conditioning inside the coaches and temperatures will be kept slightly higher than the usual.

Maximum supply of fresh air will be ensured. The special trains will run between New Delhi to Dibrugarh, Agartala, Howrah, Patna, Bilaspur, Ranchi, Bhubaneswar, Secunderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram, Madgaon, Mumbai Central, Ahmedabad and Jammu Tawi and from these cities back to the capital.

The IRCTC website began booking tickets for travel on special trains after 6pm, two hours behind the schedule, due to a technical glitch but all AC-1 and AC-3 tickets for the Howrah-New Delhi train were sold within the first 10 minutes.

The Howrah-New Delhi train is scheduled to begin its journey Tuesday from Howrah at 5:05 pm.