Chennai: The Southern Railway today started operating intra-state special trains from today.
Passengers travelling from one zone to another have to obtain the Tamilnadu government’s e-pass.
From today, it will operate Coimbatore-Mayiladuthurai-Coimbatore Janshatabdi special, Madurai-Villupuram-Madurai Intercity Superfast special, Tiruchirappalli-Nagercoil-Tiruchirappalli Superfast special and Coimbatore-Katpadi-Coimbatore Intercity Superfast special.
The Tamilnadu government identified eight zones to allow people’s movement, opening up public transport in all but the four worst-affected districts of Chennai, Chengalpattu, Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur.
The zones were created combining nearby districts. According to Health Department guidelines, testing of incoming individuals in intra or inter-district movement within a zone is not required.
However, ‘testing (will) be done only for those coming with symptoms,’ when people travel from one zone to another, except Chennai, it said. For those moving from Chennai to other zones, testing will be done for all, irrespective of whether the person had symptoms or not, it said.