Indian Railways has shown no sign that the month-long halted operations of the passenger trains would resume after the deadline of the current spell of lockdown which runs till May 3rd, 2020 as the current state of the railways seemingly signals that the lockdown would likely get extended beyond May 3 to contain the spread of the Coronavirus pandemic.

According to The Hindu, the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) is yet to resume the services for booking the tickets even though the railway department has been rolling out extensive measures and preparations towards ensuring to maintain the safety protocols and guidelines, including physical distancing, in the premises of the railway stations. 

According to the officials at the Railway Department, the Indian Railways has been in regular contact with the Zonal Railways through video-conferencing and the board is yet to arrive at the final decision on resuming passenger train services after the second spell of the nationwide lockdown. The IRCTC online booking portal has been indicating that the booking has been suspended for all trains until further orders in the wake of the outbreak. 

As there have been floating speculations across the nation that the lockdown may get extended for two more weeks beyond May 3, the railway authorities are in process of implementing the safety protocols and guidelines to maintain the crowd if the government decides to resume the operations of passenger trains partially.

The Railway department would remove the unreserved coaches, suspend the issuance of the platform tickets, and not allot the seats in the middle berth in the sleeper class and Third AC coaches as part of their crowd control mechanisms. Adding to these mechanisms, the authorities are concentrating to put signages and marks for maintaining social distancing at the major stations and the premises of the stations would be equipped with the availability of sanitizers and masks.

If the operations begin partially, the passengers would be directed to wear masks and report at least one hour before the time of departure. The Hindu has quoted the statement from the official that the state governments must disclose the request to the Railway Board for operating special trains for the stranded migrant workers, who have lost their jobs amid the lockdown and have been catered at the government shelters. 

The suspension of the services would affect around 12,000 trains that have been operated by the Indian Railways daily. However, the Ministry clarified that the operations of goods and parcel trains would be functioning normally with the view of transporting essential products.