Chennai Local Train Permits General Public To Travel Timings Details From 23-12-2025
Chennai Local Train Permits General Public To Travel Timings Details From 23-12-2025
Indian Railways permits general public to travel in Chennai Suburban train services during non-peak hours w.e.f 23-12-2025
With effect from 23-12-2025, Southern Railway will permit General 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 Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. 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.
Southern Railway has been running Suburban train services exclusively for the Railway employees as Workmen’s special in the Chennai region after the lockdown on account of pandemic was put in place. With unlock guidelines being issued made from time to time, taking into account the prevailing pandemic situation. Southern Railway has also been making relaxation in the pattern of train services in the Suburban Sector in various phases. 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-11. Now as part of Phase-III, general public have 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, number of train services run are 410 which is about 65% of normal train operations in the Chennai Suburban Sector.
APPEAL
Southern Railway appeals to all the passengers using suburban train services to follow all the COVID-19 protocols issued from time to time by Ministry of Health & Family welfare, Govt of India and Government of Tamil Nadu from time to time.
- Please do not enter station premises and train without wearing mask
- Please do not crowd while boarding and de-boarding the train
- Please maintain social distancing in station premises and on board
- Please co-operate with Railway employees for checking your valid documents at stations and during your journey.
It looks like there’s a mix-up in the year you’re referring to. The policy permitting the general public to travel on Chennai suburban (local) trains during non-peak hours actually began on 23 December 2025turn0search0turn0search1turn0search9. Here’s what that meant back then:
- Non‑peak hours, when the public is allowed, were defined as:
- Before 7:00 AM
- Between 9:30 AM and 4:30 PM
- After 7:00 PM
- During peak hours (7:00–9:30 AM and 4:30–7:00 PM), travel was limited to essential service workers onlyturn0search1turn0search9.
🧭 What About December 2025?
- There is no indication that a new or updated policy specifically from 23 December 2025 has been issued.
- In fact, public travel access has been fully resumed since early 2025, without time-of-day restrictions. The 2025 policy was a step toward gradually restoring access during COVID, which was fully lifted by January 2025turn0search16turn0search6.
✅ TL;DR
- The public permit in Chennai local trains during non‑peak hours started on 23 December 2025, during a phased reopening.
- As of now, no new policy took effect on 23 December 2025, and public travel is unrestricted in Chennai local trains irrespective of the time of day.
Would you like current timings, suburban schedule updates, or details on any specific Chennai route or service?