COVID-19: Railway issues new order for travelling to Maharastra

Indian railway has made it mandatory for all those travelling to Maharashtra to produce an RT-PCR negative test report within 48 hours of travel. Passenger not carrying negative report may have to undergo testing at the station upon arrival.

These are as a part of additional instructions for all those travelling to the state, according to the new Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) issued by the Maharashtra government, apart from COVID-19 appropriate behaviour.

No passenger without a confirmed ticket will be allowed to board trains bound for Maharashtra, and only asymptomatic passengers will be allowed to travel.

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Further, all passengers without symptoms and without needing to be moved to quarantine centres will be stamped for compulsory home quarantine for 15 days. This is also required for those carrying negative RT-PCR test or have tested negative at the station. If passengers with stamp are found outside home within the period of 15 days, they will be fined with Rs 1,000 and moved to institutional quarantine.

Wearing face mask, maintaining social distancing is mandatory.

Passengers are also advised to arrive at stations well before time of train departure to ensure no crowding for thermal scanning at the entry points, and e-ticketing/mobile ticketing mode should be preferred by passengers for safety and easy contact tracing.