Gradual resumption of air, rail passenger services on the anvil

Government is evidently exploring the ways to resume domestic air and rail passenger services at the earliest possible. Union Minister of Civil Aviation Hardeep Singh Puri stated in a recent media interview that the ministry is mulling over restarting the air operations for passengers, basis certain changes in the standard operating procedures followed at airports and by airlines in the aftermath of the Covid-19 outbreak.

It was pointed out that to avoid queues at airports, passengers may be asked to print boarding passes at homes, arrive much ahead of the boarding time, reduce permissible baggage limits and other such measures may have been taken.

Indian Railways is also gearing up to gradually restart passenger train operations from May 12, initially with 15 pairs of trains.  These trains will be run as special trains from New Delhi station connecting Dibrugarh, Agartala, Howrah, Patna, Bilaspur, Ranchi, Bhubaneswar, Secunderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram, Madgaon, Mumbai Central, Ahmedabad and Jammu Tawi.