On March 22, 2020, two days before nationwide lockdown owing to the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, Indian Railways service was brought to a halt. During that period several services by railways was cancelled and the Centre ran a number of special trains to evacuate labourers from one part of the country to the other in migrant special trains demanded by individual states. And today, March 12, 2022, i.e, almost after a gap of 3 years, life seems to be on track towards normalcy.
LINEN, BLANKETS AND CURTAINS BACK
Recently railways issued orders to resume providing linen, blankets and curtains inside trains, a provision that was suspended amid the coronavirus pandemic outbreak.
The Railway Board said the supply of these items would resume with immediate effect. In an attempt to prevent the spread of COVID-19, the Railways had announced in May 2020 that it would not provide blankets and curtains in air-conditioned coaches of all trains. Passengers were advised to bring their own blankets on long journeys.
GENERAL CLASS PASSENGER SERVICES RESUMED
Last month, railways decided to resume general class passenger services, which were also suspended due to the pandemic. The railways had been running fully reserved special trains’ during the pandemic to prevent crowding on trains so as to contain the spread of the disease.
Even the general second class coaches, mostly used by people on short distances and from economically backward sections, were made reserved coaches. “In regular trains, general coaches shall be earmarked as reserved or unreserved as these were prevailing during pre-pandemic period,” a railway spokesperson had said.
COOKED MEALS, E-CATERING SERVICES BACK TOO
The national transporter, which had also suspended the service of providing meals and most of its concessions on tickets, has reintroduced majority of the facility. However, the concessions on tickets for passengers remain suspended.
In an order, the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) decided to resume cooked meals on all trains from February 14 after the service was stopped last year owing to Covid-19 restrictions.
In August last year, IRCTC had started ready-to-eat meal service and it continues to be served on demand. The e-catering service allows passengers to order an array of food of their choice from reputed brands as well as popular regional and local delicacies on phone or online while travelling on trains and get the same delivered to their seats at the railway station.
During the pre-COVID period, IRCTC had started clocking 20,000 e-catering orders per day.
MEALS ON VANDE BHARAT, DURONTO, RAJDHANI, TEJAS AND GATIMAN
On November 28, IRCTC resumed catering services on board Vande Bharat Express between Delhi and Katra. Earlier, it resumed catering services with cooked food in premium trains, including Rajdhani, Shatabdi, Duronto, Vande Bharat, Tejas and Gatiman Express. The Delhi-Katra Vande Bharat express was back on track in July last year after shutting operations for a month due to surge in Covid-19.
STARTS REGULAR TRAIN SERVICES
On November 2021, railways decided to restore regular train services in the post-Covid era. With the announcement, more than 1700 trains were restored in the next few days with strict Covid protocol in place. Even the ‘Lifeline of Mumbai’, the suburban local train services, also returned to their full capacity from October 28.
In Mumbai, the Central Railway zone catered to an average daily passenger count of 25-28 lakh, while Western Railway zone operated with 19-22 lakh footfalls daily. Last month, railways resumed the services of Humsafar Express between Udaipur and Delhi Sarai Rohilla. The Humsafar Express will operate via Ajmer-Jaipur.
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