Train travel during a pandemic — masks, no pantry, frequent sanitisation and more

ThePrint teams travel to Chennai and Secunderabad in the special AC trains being run from New Delhi railway station and bring you glimpses from their journey.

Three masks, belonging to three members of a family travelling to Vijaywada, hanging from hooks that would otherwise hold curtains in the AC compartment | Manisha Mondal | ThePrint

Chennai/Secunderabad: The Indian Railways began operating special trains to various parts of the country on 12 May. Stranded since the nationwide lockdown began on 25 March to flatten the Covid curve, people have now started queuing up to take these trains to reach home or workplace or other destinations where they need to in.

The trains are fully air-conditioned, but exclude catering services at the moment, and they are sanitised at various stops.

Two teams of ThePrint’s journalists travelled on these trains to bring you stories of the pandemic and lockdown from across India. Journalist Revathi Krishnan and photojournalist Manisha Mondal went from Delhi to Chennai, Tamil Nadu, while special correspondent Aneesha Bedi and photojournalist Suraj Singh Bisht are in Secunderabad, Telangana.

Both photojournalists bring you a glimpse of their journeys.

A father feeds his daughter on the train to Chennai from New Delhi | Manisha Mondal | ThePrint

A man, wearing a mask and gloves, sleeps on the train | Manisha Mondal | ThePrint

Even though food services were discontinued in trains, the pantry workers sold tea, biscuits and lunch. This worker, who refused to identify himself, was selling veg biryani just a few minutes before the train reached Chennai | Manisha Mondal | ThePrint

The train coach being sanitised | Manisha Mondal | ThePrint

A family heads to the designated coach as the train to Telangana arrives | Suraj Singh Bisht | ThePrint

Shalini, who works in Delhi, on her way back home | Manisha Mondal | ThePrint

A worker cleans a compartment | Manisha Mondal | ThePrint

At Jhansi station, a man sanitises the train | Manisha Mondal | ThePrint

A little girl travelling with her mother on the train to Secunderabad| Suraj Singh Bisht | ThePrint

Two women wearing masks travelling in the train bound for Telangana | Suraj Singh Bisht | ThePrint