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Indian Railways to run special festive trains for Chhath Puja, Here’s the full list

Indian Railways will be operating special trains to Bihar to facilitate travel and manage the heavy rush of passengers for the upcoming Chhath Puja. Reportedly, 46 special trains will be on tracks to manage the rush. It is likely that the railways will be witnessing a heavy passenger rush during the Chhath Puja celebrations, to be observed from November 18 to November 21. Earlier, the Indian Railways announced that they will be operating 392 festival special trains between October 20 and November 30. These special trains were announced to cater to the growing demand during the festival period of Durga Puja, Dussehra, Diwali and Chhath puja. As per the reports, the new festive special trains will be operating till November 30 and will be discontinued after the season is over. Here is a list of Chhath Puja special trains: 1. 04404/04403 Anand Vihar Terminal-Bhagalpur-Anand Vihar Terminal Super Fast Special 2. 04406/04405 New Delhi-Barauni-New Delhi Super Fast Special 3. 04408/04407 New Delhi-Darbhanga-New Delhi Super Fast Special 4. 04092/04091 New Delhi-Jaynagar-New Delhi Express Special 5. 04030/04029 Delhi-Muzaffarpur-Delhi Bi-Weekly Super Fast Special Express 6. 04410/04409 New Delhi-Patna-New Delhi Super Fast Special Express 7. 04412/04411 Delhi Jn-Saharsa - Delhi Jn Bi-weekly Super Fast Special Express 8. 04624/04623 Amritsar-Saharsa-Amritsar Bi-Weekly Super Fast Special Express 9. 02422/02421 Jammu-Ajmer-Jammu-Jammu Super Fast Express Special (Daily) 10. 02237/02238 Varanasi-Jammuutvi-Varanasi Super Fast Special Train (Daily) 11. 04041/04042 Delhi Jn-Dehradun-Delhi Jn Express Special 12. 02231/02232 Lucknow-Chandigarh-Lucknow Weekly Super Fast Express Special Train (Daily) 13. 02448/02447 Hazrat Nizamuddin-Manikpur-Hazrat Nizamuddin Super Fast Special (Daily) 14. 04503/04504 Kalka-Shimla-Kalka Express Special (Daily) 15. 09717/09718 Jaipur-Daulatpur Chowk-Jaipur Special Express (3 days a week) 16. 04887/04888 Barmer-Rishikesh-Barmer Special Express (Daily) 17. 04519/04520 Delhi Jn-Bathinda-Delhi Jn Special (Daily) 18. 02471/02472 Sriganganagar-Delhi Jn-Sriganganagar Special (Daily) 19. 09611/09612 Ajmer-Amritsar-Ajmer Express Special 20. 09613/09614 Ajmer-Amritsar-Ajmer Express Special (2 days a week) 21. 02191/02192 Jabalpur-Haridwar-Jabalpur Super Fast Express Special (weekly) 22. 02530/02529 Lucknow-Patliputra-Lucknow Super Fast Express Special (5 days a week) 23. 02165/02166 Lokmanya Tilak Terminus-Gorakhpur-Lokmanya Tilak Super Fast Express Special (2 days a week) Note, Indian Railways is operating limited trains in view of the Coronavirus pandemic this year.

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Hyderabad becomes first Indian airport to offer e-boarding facility to international flights

Rajiv Gandhi International Airport here has started rolling out end-to-end paperless E- boarding facility for international flights, becoming the first airport in India to do so, the GMR group said on Tuesday. The GMR group-led airport already has the credit of being the first and only airport in India to offer truly end-to-end paperless E-boarding to all its domestic passengers across all flights, a press release said. In line with the Centre’sDigital India campaign, the airport’s international e-boarding service ramps up safe travel options for international passengers choosing to fly out of the city. The service is currently available for select international flights of IndiGo Airlines. Hyderabad International Airport rolled out its e- boarding services for international flights after the government’s nod based on a rigorous and successful pilot, it said. As a key partner to this initiative, IndiGo Airlines became the maiden carrier to commence this facility when their Sharjah-bound passengers e-boarded themselves from Hyderabad on the 6E 1405 flight on October 2. Other scheduled international carriers operating out of Hyderabad are in the process of integration with the airport’s e-boarding system, which will be rolled out soon, according to the release. Pradeep Panicker, CEO, GMR Hyderabad International Airport Limited, said, “In the present scenario of the pandemic, automating the passenger journey provides more pleasant airport experience. After the successful pilot of the project and all regulatory approvals, we have used our internal capabilities to take up e-boarding solution for international operations.”

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India to introduce seaplanes for travellers on 16 routes

Think of seaplanes and it's perhaps the Maldives that you think of; that is going to change very soon as India is on its way to introduce seaplanes for travellers on not just one but a whopping 16 routes. The first seaplane in India is slated to take off on October 31 this year, connecting Sabarmati riverfront to the Statue of Unity in Gujarat. The service is hailed as the first of its kind, and will involve a 19-seater seaplane that can accommodate up to 12 passengers at a time. The initiation of this seaplane service is a part of Indian government's UDAN scheme and is aimed to promote tourism in the country. UDAN is a regional airport development scheme initiated by the government to ease connectivity as well. It has been reported that planning in on to build more water aerodromes, which facilitate landing and take-off for the said seaplanes, at various places across the country; there are 10 such sites currently. These 10 sites are spread across the country and include: - Statue of Unity, Gujarat - Shatrunjay Dam, Gujarat - Sabarmati Riverfront, Gujarat - Nagarjuna Sagar Dam, Telangana - Prakasam Barrage, Andhra Pradesh - Umrangsao Reservoir, Assam - Brahmputra Riverfront, Assam -Long Island, Andaman & Nicobar - Swaraj Dweep, Andaman & Nicoba - Shaheed Dweep, Andaman & Nicobar The service is also expected in Uttarakhand on Yamuna to Tupper Dam stretch.

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Flights from India to China's Wuhan all set to resume operation

As per a recent development, India’s national carrier is all set to operate flights to Wuhan on October 30. This will be the first flight operation to the central Chinese city, which was the trigger spot of Coronavirus. Wuhan is where the virus reportedly emerged in December and then spread across the world. The place was officially declared COVID-free in June, and all restrictions had also been relaxed. The Indian Embassy recently announced that a Vande Bharat Mission (VBM) flight would be operated from Delhi to Wuhan on October 30. As per this development, this will be the sixth VBM flight by Air India to China to facilitate travel for Indians stranded in both countries. The press release issued by the Indian Embassy further added that taking flights would be made available on payment basis as per the fares decided by the airline. These flights will facilitate travel for those Indians who have valid work visas to return to China and bring back those wanting to return home. Those undertaking the journey would have to abide by all protocols issued by the Government of India, which include a mandatory institutional quarantine of 7 days on payment basis and home quarantine of 7 days following arrival in Delhi, as per the press release. Eligible OCI (Overseas Citizenship of India) card holders and Indian nationals, who wish to travel on one of these flights, must register at the Consulates/Embassy as per jurisdiction by furnishing all the required information about them. Those who could not travel by previous Vande Bharat flights, will also be required to re-register themselves by sending detailed information about them. The Delhi-Wuhan flight has been announced after the cancellation of October 23 flight between Delhi-Guangzhou. However, those arriving from New Delhi will be required to undergo 14-day quarantine in the designated hotels. Those keen to travel on this route have been advised to reach out to the designated helpdesk, i.e., helpdesk.beijing@mea.gov.in, for any query or assistance.

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Mumbai’s Goregaon Film City reopens for public tours with COVID-19 safety rules

Mumbai, the hub of Hindi cinema, is visited by tourists from far and wide with several cinema lovers making it a point to not miss visiting the Goregaon Film City. According to the reports, the Goregaon Film City has reopened for movie shoots after six months and is also allowing tourists to visit for a paid tour. Launched by the Maharashtra state government, Mission Begin Again is focusing on bringing the Maximum City to its usual pace in a phased manner. The reopening of Film City is also a part of the same. Movie and TV serial shoots have also been permitted with some precautions and restrictions in place in order to avoid any incidences of Coronavirus transmission. - Symptomatic patients showing signs of cold or cough will not be allowed access to the film city. - Tourists will have to bring food from home, as snacks will not be made available. - No visitor will be allowed to carry food from home; eatables can be purchased from the film city. - No pregnant woman, senior citizens and children will be allowed to visit the premises. - Tourists are expected to refrain from bothering actors or interrupting film shoots during the tours. Rules for operators - Tour operators have to keep the occupancy of their buses to 50 per cent of total capacity. - Thermal check of the tourists has to be done before allowing them to board the bus. Body temperature of every person should be between 5 to 27 degrees. - All tourists are supposed to wear masks and gloves. Regular thermal checks are to be done regularly.

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SpiceJet to operate 8 flights to Chittagong & Dhaka under air bubble

Under India’s air bubble agreement with Bangladesh, SpiceJet will operate 8 new flights to Chittagong and Dhaka. SpiceJet will operate non-stop flights between Kolkata and Chittagong four-times-a-week. Besides, the airline will operate flights on the Delhi-Dhaka-Delhi, Kolkata-Dhaka-Kolkata and Chennai-Dhaka-Chennai sectors. All the flights are scheduled to commence from November 5, 2020. SpiceJet will deploy a mix of its Boeing 737 and Bombardier Q400 aircraft on all these routes. Shilpa Bhatia, Chief Commercial Officer, SpiceJet, said, “SpiceJet is delighted to add Chittagong as its 11th international destination and announce the launch of our new flights connecting Dhaka with Delhi, Chennai and Kolkata. We have always witnessed good demand on our flights to Bangladesh and we are confident that our new flights will bring smooth connectivity for the passengers travelling on these routes.” Bookings are now open on www.spicejet.com, SpiceJet’s mobile app and through online travel portals and travel agents.

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