COVID-19: Passenger trains across India cancelled till March 31

The Indian Railways has cancelled all passenger trains till March 31 in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Only goods trains will run from 2400 hours of March 22 to midnight of March 31, the Railway Ministry said in a notification issued on Sunday.

Railways Minister Piyush Goyal announced on Sunday that all trains including premium trains, mail or express trains, passenger trains, suburban Trains, Kolkata Metro Rail, Konkan Railway and others will be cancelled till the end of day on March 31. “However, bare minimum level of services of suburban trains and Kolkata Metro Rail shall continue upto 2400hrs of 22.03.2020,” the ministry said in a statement. 

The trains that began before 4 am on Sunday will reach their destinations. 

“To ensure the essential supplies in various parts of the country, movement of goods trains will continue,” the ministry said. 

People who booked tickets on these trains will get a full refund, which they can collect upto June 21. For this, arrangements will be made, the ministry said. 

The Railways had already trimmed down its services on Friday by cancelling a majority of trains.

Prior to Sunday’s announcement, the Railways on Saturday cautioned people against travelling, cancelled more than 3,000 trains, relaxed refund rules, besides shutting down its museums and parks amid a spurt in coronavirus cases. The national transporter alerted passengers of possible infection while travelling by trains, stating that it had found some cases of coronavirus infected passengers on trains.

There were few incidents of people who were asked to remain in quarantine found travelling on trains. 

The Railways urged people to avoid or postpone all non-essential travel to avoid crowding on trains and encourage social distancing.

The railways also ordered the closure of its rail museums, heritage galleries and heritage parks up to April 15 as a preventive measure to control the spread of the novel coronavirus.