The general public can now travel in Chennai’s suburban trains during non-peak hours from Wednesday. The Southern Railway made the announcement on Tuesday, as part of its graded opening of local train services for commuters. According to the announcement, members of the general public can travel in suburban services all through the day except during peak hours. The peak hour timing has been marked as 7am to 9.30 am and 4.30 pm to 7 pm everyday.
During the peak hours, the services are open only to those workers of essential services, as allowed during the Phase I of reopening. In the second phase, Southern Railway had allowed lady passengers to travel in the suburban trains. At present, Southern Railway runs 410 suburban services, which is 65% of Chennai’s suburban sector. Southern Railway has also advised passengers to not enter the premises without wearing a face mask.
The Southern Railway has also resumed regular long distance train services in a phased manner over the past few months. In relation to suburban services, during the lockdown, only workmen specials were operated which was open only to employees working in essential services sectors. Those who wanted to utilise the workmen special services had to show their work identity cards and a special permit signed by the designated authority to the security personnel posted at the entry points of the stations before boarding the trains.
Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu reported 1052 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday. This includes 311 fresh cases in Chennai and 114 fresh cases in Coimbatore district. The number of persons undergoing treatment for COVID-19 across the state including those on home isolation is 9391 as of Tuesday. The state also reported the deaths of 17 persons due to COVID-19 on Tuesday and 1139 persons were reported recovered from the infection on Tuesday.