Indian Railways plans to restart passenger trains in a phased manner from 12 May.

On Sunday, the Railway Ministry said that initially it will start the operation of 15 pairs of train. These trains will be run as special trains from New Delhi station connecting Dibrugarh, Agartala, Howrah, Patna, Bilaspur, Ranchi, Bhubaneswar, Secunderabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram, Madgaon, Mumbai Central, Ahmedabad and Jammu Tawi.

Later more "special" trains will be operational based on availability of coaches, the Railways said. Based on the available coaches after reserving 20,000 coaches for COVID-19 care centres and adequate number of coaches being reserved to enable operation of up to 300 trains everyday as “Shramik Special” for stranded migrants. 

Booking for reservation in these trains will start at 4 pm on May 11 (Monday) and will be available only on the IRCTC website. Ticket booking counters at the railway stations shall remain closed and no counter tickets (including platform tickets) shall be issued.

The Railways has also specified that only passengers with valid confirmed tickets will be allowed to enter the railway stations. They said that it will be mandatory for the passengers to wear face cover and undergo screening at departure and only asymptomatic passengers will be allowed to board the train.

All trains will run with AC coaches only and will have limited stoppage. Details regarding train schedule will be issued in due course, the Railways added.

Railways Minister Piyush Goyal tweeted confirmation: "Railways plans to gradually restart passenger train operations from May 12, 2020, initially with 15 pairs of special trains connecting New Delhi with major stations across India. Booking in these trains will start at 4 pm on May 11".