Services on suburban trains in Chennai to resume today

The Southern Railway (SR) would permit general public to travel on Suburban trains during non-peak hours from Wednesday (December 23).

The restriction on allowing only those engaged in essential services to travel would remain during peak hours. 

In an official statement issued on Tuesday, it said general public would be allowed to travel from early hours to 7 am, 9.30 am to 4.30 pm and 7 pm to closing hours of the day. During these timings, general public would be allowed to travel after following all COVID-19 guidelines issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the statement added.

Earlier, SR had relaxed conditions to allow women passengers on EMUs during non-peak hours.

In the initial days of the pandemic lockdown, the Southern Railway has been running suburban train services exclusively for the railway employees as Workmen Special in the Chennai region. 

With the restrictions being relaxed in phases, taking into account the falling number of new COVID-19 cases, Southern Railway has also been granting relaxations in the pattern of train services in the suburban sector.

In Phase-I of relaxation, employees engaged in the organisations rendering essential services were permitted to travel. In the second phase, women passengers were allowed to travel during non-peak hours. Now as part of Phase III, general public have been allowed to travel during the non-peak hours.

Southern Railway is currently running 410 services, which is about 65 per cent of normal train operations in the suburban sector.