Railway and air ticket booking: In a clear indication from the Centre on no further extension of the 21-day lockdown due to Covid 19 spread, Indian Railways are allowing passengers to make reservations from April 15 onwards. The Indian Railways has started accepting bookings for trains from April 15 onwards as the nationwide curb on different modes of travel will cease to operate. However, the biggest transporter Indian Railways, may not immediately resume its services in full gear and only start to function gradually.

Infact, reservations on IRCTC website, the online ticketing subsidiary of Indian Railways, was already open as per the 120-day advanced reservation period (ARP).

Although the railways had announced on March 22 to discontinue the passenger train services till March 31, 9,000 goods trains that run every day are operating as usual.

According to government officials, IRCTC has started accepting bookings from April 15, naturally when the lockdown is till April 14. However, it will take time to resume entire passenger train operations April 15 onwards.  They will have to bring back the work force gradually and start opening passenger trains slowly.

While reviewing the running of special parcel trains by the Railways to supply important items, railway minister Piyush Goyal on Wednesday asked the officials to make the service available on more routes so that goods like medicines, essential equipment, edibles can be supplied quickly.

Parcel special trains are already running on eight routes and 20 more are in the pipeline in different zones, the railway ministry said.

Meanwhile, the online booking systems of private airlines, including SpiceJet, Indigo and GoAir, have shown bookings from April 15 onward for domestic travel. But no official statement has been released from the airlines so far.