The Southern Railway is set to resume normal suburban train operations from November 15 and all travel restrictions will be removed.
Meanwhile, the long-distance trains originating from stations under the Southern Railway, have been converted to normal long-distance trains from Saturday.
With regard to suburban trains, people would be allowed to travel without any time restrictions in all the four sections, including Chennai Central-Arakkonam and Gummidipoondi/Sullurpeta and Chennai Beach-Chengalpattu via Tambaram and Velachery.
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The commuters can purchase single, return and season tickets. All the curbs on UTS mobile app for purchasing tickets during peak hours will also be removed.
No more specials
Regarding the long-distance trains, the Southern Railway was operating 95% of the trains in two classes as special mails and holiday specials with new train numbers.
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In a circular issued, the Railway Board has directed the Southern Railway to revert to the normal train services with regular fares and to be operated as per time table issued for 2021. More than 290 mails/express trains are operated within and outside the State.
The mail special trains are operated with the old fare with the holiday specials being charged with “Tatkal” rates, a senior official said.
Changes have been made for charging normal fares for holiday special trains for the trains operated by Southern Railway and South Western Railway from Saturday itself in the Chennai database centre.
The Southern Railway, however, has asked passengers to continue to follow all COVID-19 safety norms of wearing face masks, hand hygiene and maintaining social distancing.