CHENNAI: With the state government imposing a partial lockdown, Southern Railway announced that members of the public will not be allowed to commute for 15 days in workmen suburban specials effective from Thursday.
The travel restrictions will commence at 4 am on May 6 and will be in force till 4 am on May 20th, said the railways in a statement.
So far, the general public has been allowed to travel in suburban trains except during peak hours from 6.30 am to 9.30 am and 4 to 7 pm.
The decision comes after the state government ordered the transport entities to restrict the seating capacity by 50 per cent.
The railways said tickets will be issued only to railway staff, essential services staff authorized by the state government such as health, law and order, sanitation workers, municipal corporation workers etc.
Similarly, staff of all central and state government departments and PSUs, staff of Madras High Court judicial bodies and quasi-judicial bodies including lawyers, travel and logistics organization staff including Chennai Port Trust, Kamarajar Port Trust, staff of e-commerce companies on duty, staff of print and electronic media, staff of nationalized, private and co-operative banks and staff of private security agencies will be allowed to travel along with the photo identity card issued by their organizations.
However, women passengers (except essential service staff), students and staff of educational institutions will not be permitted to travel during the 15 days.
“The objective of limiting the permitted category of passengers only to specified categories is not to refuse traveling rights of passengers but solely limit the passengers in train service to 50 per cent of the seating capacity as required by the state government for containing the spread of COVID disease,” said the railways in a statement.
The reserved and unreserved counters will continue to function with 50 per cent staff duly following all Covid protocols. However, members of the public are requested and encouraged to go for online booking of both reserved and unreserved tickets.
Also, the existing concept of peak hour and non-peak hours timings, introduced for the purpose of regulating travel of general public, shall not be followed.
A senior railway official said, “Passengers who carry reserved tickets will be allowed to travel in suburban trains to and from the destination stations.”
Meanwhile, MTC in a statement said commuters will be allowed to occupy 50 per cent of seats in its buses from Thursday until further orders.