The Ministry of Railways on Sunday issued a statement saying they initially plan to gradually start train operations across the country from May 12 with 15 pairs of trains (30 return journeys). These trains will be running as special trains from the New Delhi railway station connecting Dibrugarh, Agartala, Howrah, Patna, Bilaspur, Ranchi, Bhubaneswar, Secunderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram, Madgaon, Mumbai Central, Ahmedabad and Jammu Tawi. Ticket bookings for reservation in these trains will commence at 4PM on May 11 and will be available only on the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) website.

The Railway Ministry has also stated that it will be mandatory for passengers traveling to cover their faces with masks and undergo a screening at departure after which only asymptomatic passengers will be allowed to board the train. Further details including the train schedules will be issued separately in due course. This is the first time since the nation entered the lockdown phase that railways will resume its services for all passengers considering nearly 3.4 lakh passengers are said to have traveled via the 300 Shramik Special trains so far.

Check out the Ministry of Railways' press release in full below: