Due to the COVID-19, the lockdown was imposed throughout the country. Railway and transportation suffered a tremendous loss as the Railway suspended all regular passenger trains indefinitely. Regular trains have remained suspended since March 22. But due to all the countrywide lockdown, there was a huge impact on our GDP. For the first time after independence, our growth rate seems to be in recession as GDP rate went below the axis line and was noted to be -23.9% that is negative. Therefore looking forward towards a sudden need of normalising daily life as it was before COVID-19 spread its roots in our country, steps are being taken as currently Unlock 4 plan announced by the Centre on August 29.
While issuing “Unlock 4” guidelines, the ministry of home affairs (MHA) said the latest plan was aimed at reopening more economic activities outside containment zones and that it was issued after receiving feedback from states and Union Territories, and extensive consultations with the central ministries and departments. Under the plan, metro services across India, except in Maharashtra, will resume in phases from September 7, with all becoming operational by September 12, according to the ministry for housing and urban affairs — a move that will significantly increase public transport capacity across India, and especially Delhi, but also one that comes against the backdrop of a surge in cases in the country.
The Indian Railways will deploy 80 special trains from September 12, in a bid to cater to demand which will be in addition to the 230 special trains that are currently operating, the railway ministry announced on Saturday. The reservation for the special trains will begin from September 10, the ministry said. The government will also deploy ‘clone trains’ on routes where the occupancy is more depending on the waitlist for the trains.

“We will notify 80 new special trains or 40 pairs of trains that will start operations from September 12. The reservations will begin from September 10. This will run in addition to the 230 trains already in operation,” Railway board chairman and CEO VK Yadav said.“Wherever there is a demand for a particular train, wherever the waiting list is long, we will run a clone train ahead of the actual train, so that passengers can travel,” he added.
