New Delhi, December 23: Indian Railways has permitted the public to travel by suburban train services in Chennai during non-peak hours from December 23, the Union Railways Minister Piyush Goyal said on Tuesday.

"From 23rd December, Indian Railways permits general public to travel by suburban train services in Chennai during non-peak hours. With adequate safety measures in place, this will greatly enhance ease of movement and passenger convenience," Goyal wrote on Twitter.

According to a press statement, it was issued that with effect from 23-12-2020, Southern Railway will permit the public to travel during non-peak hours in the Chennai suburban train system.

"The non-peak hours for this purpose are reckoned from the early hours of the day to 07:00 hours in the morning, 09:30 hrs to 16:30 hrs and from 19:00 hrs to the closing hours of the day. During these timings, general public would be allowed to travel duly following all the COVID-19 guidelines issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare," the release stated.

The press statement read, "The intermittent timings will be considered as peak hours, i.e 07:00 hrs to 09:30, 16:30 hrs to 19:00 hrs. During these peak hours, as it was prevalent earlier, only the employees engaged in the organisation rendering essential services shall be allowed to travel. It is reiterated that the General public will not be allowed during these peak hours."

In the Phase-I, employees engaged in the organisations rendering essential services were permitted to travel. Lady passengers were allowed to travel during the non-peak hours in the Phase-II. Now as part of Phase-III, the general public has been allowed to travel during the non-peak hours as specified above.

Southern Railway has been increasing the number of train services in view of these phased relaxations. At present, a number of train services run are 410 which is about 65 percent of normal train operations in the Chennai Suburban Sector.

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