Railway operations have been partially resumed from today (Wednesday) as part of the government’s decision to lift COVID-19 lockdown across the country.
According to details, Pakistan Railways has resumed its passenger services after being completely shut down since March due to coronavirus outbreak. As of now, operations of 15 up and 15 down trains have been resumed aimed at assisting the passengers to get to their destinations before and during Eid.
As per the information released by Pakistan Railways, the first train has already departed for Rawalpindi from Lahore, along with Karachi bound Pakistan Express from Lahore, Railcar from Rawalpindi to Lahore and Rawalpindi bound Subak Kharam which departed from Lahore.
Other trains scheduled for departure include, Peshawar bound Khyber Mail at 11 pm at up track, and an another train bound for Karachi at the same time via down track.
Similarly, Green Line Express is expected to leave for Margala Railway station at 9 pm from Karachi, with another Karachi bound train at 3 pm via down track.
Other trains whose operations have been restored include Tezgam Express, Pak Business Class, Jaffar Express, Awam Express and Millat Express.
It is to be noted that Pakistan Railways has issued special guidelines and SOPs to ensure the safety of passengers. According to Amir Nisar – Deputy Superintendent of Pakistan Railways, the trains will be limited to only 60 per cent of the their total passenger capacity to ensure the implementation of social distancing measures recommended by medical experts.
Furthermore, passengers will be screened for having fever or any other COVID-19 symptoms, face masks, gloves and hand sanitizers have also been made mandatory, whereas any violations will be punishable by a penalty of Rs 500, and Rs 1,000 for the first and second time respectively, while a third-time violation will result in the off-loading of the concerned passenger.
