Indian Railways Cancels All Passenger Trains Till March 31 As Coronavirus Cases Continue to Rise, Only Goods Trains to Run
According to reports, only Goods Trains will run from March 22 midnight till March 31 midnight, the railways announced.
New Delhi, March 22: In the wake of the coronavirus outbreak in India, all passenger trains have been cancelled by the Indian Railways. Reports inform that only goods trains will run from March 22 midnight till March 31 midnight, the railways announced. According to a tweet by ANI, a bare minimum level of service of suburban services of suburban trains and Kolkata Metro rail will continue to function till midnight tonight, i.e. March 22, 2020. Also, all the suburban trains on Central Railway and Western Railway will remain cancelled till March 31 from March 22 midnight. Coronavirus Cases in India Jump to 341, Maharashtra Worst-Hit with 74 COVID-19 Positive Cases.
On Sunday, the Indian Railways had asked the passengers not to come immediately to the reservation counters to cancel their booked tickets. The decision was taken to contain the spread of coronavirus and avoid huge rush at the railway premises. The Railways relaxed the refund period of cancelled tickets for three months. Earlier, to cancel a ticket booked from the reservation counter, a passenger needed to submit the ticket from three hours to 72 hours. In a statement, the Railway Ministry said all rules for e-ticket remain the same as a passenger does not need to come to a station for a refund.
Here's the tweet by Piyush Goyal:
Here's the tweet by ANI:
On Saturday, the South Western Railway (SWR) zone said that it cancelled 226 trains in view of the people's curfew amid COVID-19 outbreak. A SWR spokesperson was quoted by IANS saying that in connection with Janata (people's) curfew for COVID-19 alert on Sunday, all mail, express and intercity trains, including premium trains, 92 trains, originating between 4 a.m. and 10 p.m. on Sunday from SWR are cancelled.
In India, six people have died due to COVID-19. The fifth and the sixth casualty were reported on Sunday from Maharashtra and Bihar respectively. In Bihar, a 38-year-old man died in Patna due to coronavirus. The man, who tested positive of coronavirus, was admitted at the All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS). The deceased had a travel history to Qatar recently.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 22, 2020 01:15 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).