Attention Indian Railways travellers! Covid negative RT-PCR report must for passengers arriving in Maharashtra

Any person entering the state of Maharashtra by any mode of transport will have to carry a negative RT-PCR covid test report.

Attention train travellers! Covid negative RT-PCR report is now mandatory for all Indian Railways passengers arriving in the state of Maharashtra. Piyush Goyal chaired Railway Ministry has advised all train passengers to follow COVID-19 appropriate behaviour while boarding, travelling and de-boarding at the destination. According to the national transporter, any person entering the state of Maharashtra by any mode of transport will have to carry a negative RT-PCR covid test report. The coronavirus RT-PCR test report should have been issued from up to a maximum of 48 hours before the time of the passenger’s entry into Maharashtra, Indian Railways has stated.

According to the national transporter, all the restrictions that have been made applicable to persons arriving from the states of Goa, Kerala, Rajasthan, Gujarat, West Bengal, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR), as per orders dated 18 April 2021 and 1 May 2021, will now be applicable to anyone arriving from any part of the country to the state. The latest covid advisory for various states is available on the website https://contents.irctc.co.in/en/stateWiseAdvisory.html. Indian Railways has advised passengers travelling in long distance trains are requested to check the covid advisory from the official IRCTC website and follow COVID-19 protocols for their own safety and the safety of others.

Meanwhile, the Railway Ministry has suspended several passenger special train services. Since last year, several special train services have been plying over the Indian Railways network as all passenger train services were put on halt by the government due to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the national transporter, because of the surge in covid cases, some of the special train services were running with low occupancy. Thus, due to low occupancy as well as other operational reasons, Indian Railways has decided to discontinue some of the special train services till further advice.