Bhubaneswar: There will be nine passenger trains running through Odisha once the services resume June 1. Other than the ‘Shramik’ trains and the Rajdhani ‘specials’, services have remained suspended since March 25 when lockdown was first imposed. The resumption of the passenger train services will certainly bring in a huge relief.
The ticket booking counters will be functional Friday onwards. Also online tickets will be available for these trains passing through Odisha. The principal chief commercial managers of sonal railway will decide the number of counters and their timings to be opened as per requirement and local conditions.
Friday after a gap of close to two months, the ticket booking counters opened at the Bhubaneswar Railway Station. Three booking counters have been operational since Friday morning. However, the usual queues were missing.
The East Coast Railway (ECoR) informed Friday about the trains that will run through Odisha. This will certainly be huge relief for those who have remained stuck in various Odisha cities. Also many have been stranded at other states of India and would avail of the services to return to Odisha.
Trains originating or passing through Bhubaneswar
Among the trains, that will be available to passengers in Odisha are:
Bhubaneswar-Mumbai-Bhubaneswar Konark Express;
Bhubaneswar-Howrah-Bhubaneswar Jan Shatabdi Express;
Puri-New Delhi-Puri Purushottam Express;
Sealdah-Puri-Sealdah tri-weekly Duranto Special;
Visakhapatnam-New Delhi-Visakhapatnam AP Express;
Hyderabad-Visakhapatnam-Hyderabad Godavari Express.
There will be other trains that will pass through the ECoR jurisdiction. They are:
Howrah-Secunderabad-Howrah Falaknuma Express
Howrah-Yesvantpur-Howrah Duranto.
Trains passing through other stations in Odisha
Also there will be trains that will pass through Odisha en route to Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Barbil. All these trains will originate in Odisha.
ECoR has said that the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for passengers travelling in the trains will be announced in the next couple of days. The Railway Ministry is preparing the SOP and it will be made available soon.
Rules for passengers
Waitlisted passengers will not be allowed to board the trains. Also ‘Tatkal’ tickets will not be available.
These trains will run with reserved berths with normal Mail/Express and superfast train fares. Second class fares will be charged for the passengers travelling in second class coaches with reserved berths.
The passengers have been advised to bring their own blankets and linen in case they opt for night travel. Limited amount of edibles and packed drinking water will be available in the trains.
PNN
