Indian railways resumed the operations of special Tejas Superfast Express from January 10. Due to poor patronage, the Tejas Express train service between Madurai and Chennai Egmore was cancelled on January 4.
The Railway board revoked its cancellation of Tejas Express train service on January 8. Tejas Express runs six days a week except on Thursdays. Train Number 02613 Chennai-Madurai Tejas Superfast Express departs from Chennai Egmore railway station at 6:00 AM and arrives at Tiruchirapalli station at 9:55/10 AM.
The train halts at Kodaikanal Road at 11:18/11:20 AM and reaches Madurai railway station at 12:15 PM. On the return journey, the Tejas Express train departs from Madurai station at 3 PM, halts at Kodaikanal Road railway station at 3:28/3:30 PM, and, at 5/5:05 PM, it arrives at Tiruchirapalli station before finally reaching Chennai at 9:15 PM the same day.
Indian railways also decided to resume the services of Uttaranchal Special Express that runs between Dehradun and Gujarat to help lakhs of commuters for the Maha Kumbh Mela that will be organised in Uttarakhand's Haridwar in 2021.
In 2020, the Dehradun-Okha Uttaranchal Special Express was suspended after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a nationwide lockdown to break the chain of the highly contagious coronavirus in the country.
Ahead of the Kumbh Mela 2021 in Haridwar, the Railways has now decided to resume its operation. Uttaranchal Special Express will resume its operations from January 15 from Gujarat's Okha. From Dehradun, the train will resume from January 17.
The Dehradun-Okha Uttaranchal Special Express will travel via Haridwar, Roorkee, Muzaffarnagar, Meerut City, Ghaziabad, New Delhi, Gurgaon, Rewari, Alwar, Jaipur, Ajmer, Palanpur, Unjha, Surendranagar, Rajkot, Jamnagar and Dwarka.
The Maha Kumbh Mela will be held in 2021 in Haridwar from January 14. The 48-day fair will continue till April and thousands of people are expected to arrive in Haridwar for this grand festival. Indian Railways has decided to resume the services of 18 trains for the convenience of the devotees that were suspended because of the coronavirus-induced lockdown.
Here is a list of trains that will resume their services for Kumbh Mela 2021:
- Haridwar-Howrah Kumbha Express 12369-70
- Dehradun-Howrah Upasana Express 12317-18
- Haridwar-Shriganga Nagar Express 14711-12
- Dehradun-Howrah Doon Express 3009-10
- Bandra to Haridwar Express 19019-20
- Kochuveli-Dehradun Express 22659- 60
- Puri-Haridwar Utkal Express 18477-78
- Okhla-Dehradun Express 19565-66
- Ahmedabad-Dehradun Express 19032-32
- Varanasi Dehradun Janta Express 14265-66
- Dehradun Amritsar Express 14631-32
- Haridwar-Prayag Express 14229-30
- Haridwar-Jammu Tawi Express 4605-06
- Prayag-Dehradun Link Express 14113-14
- Kathgodam-Dehradun Express 14119-20
- Haridwar-Amritsar Express 12053-54
- Lokmanya Tilak-Haridwar Express 12171-72
- Bikaner-Haridwar Express 14717
- Dehradun Yoga City-New Rishikesh 3009-10