Finally, 2 long-route trains chug out of city with passengers

Ludhiana: After a gap of more than two months railway authorities have resumed the service of long-route passenger trains on different routes. City travellers were relieved as two trains arrived at the city station at their respective schedule for carrying the passengers to their designated places.
Almost nine trains will be passing through the city station daily in the coming days on regular basis carrying thousands of regular passengers. Amid tight security around the station premises, the railway authorities have reopened their main entrance for giving easy passage to local passengers who have confirmed tickets of the seven coaches of Jan Shatabdi Express (Amritsar to Haridwar), which reached platform number 1 around 9am.
As many as 77 local passengers boarded the Jan Shatabdi Express from the city after undergoing screening and verification process. As per directions of higher officials, local railway authorities didn’t allow any passenger to sit inside the waiting rooms of the city station and they were made to sit in big halls under the supervision of ticket checking staff while following the social distancing norm.
Entry was allowed to all passengers 90 minutes before the schedule arrival of both two trains. Apart from that, the 22-coach Saryu Yamuna Express heading towards Jay Nagar arrived during afternoon hours for carrying the second batch of local passengers here on Monday. As many as 100 passengers boarded the Uttar Pradesh-bound train after undergoing formalities.
The railway authorities have also taken the help of the district health department team for conducting medical screening of passengers who had arrived in the Amritsar-bound train. All the inbound passengers were told to remain home quarantined for next 14 days by health officials and they were asked to submit a self declaration form on previous health issues.
According to passengers, arrangements at the city railway station as far as security, cleanliness, availability of pure clean drinking water was concerned were satisfactory.
Ludhiana railway station director Tarun Kumar said, “The number of passengers on-board the passenger trains from here were quite large. Railway authorities have installed special check points for entry and exit of passengers.”