Rising cases of Coronavirus in India has forced Indian Railways to suspend regular operations of both mail as well as express passenger trains till August 12. By Tanvi Jain
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The Indian Railways has cancelled all passenger services and suburban trains till August 12. “Ministry of Railways has decided that all train tickets booked on or prior to April 14, 2020, for the regular time-tabled trains should be cancelled and full refund generated as per provisions contained in the letters issued earlier,” Ministry of Railways tweeted.
However, all the special trains which include 100 pairs of trains operating since June 1, and 12 pairs of trains running on Rajdhani routes since May 12 will continue to function. Moreover, reports suggest that suburban services which were resumed to ferry back migrant workers will also remain functional. The railways had already run over 4,000 Shramik Special trains since May 1.
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“It has been decided that regular time-tabled passenger services including Mail/Express, passenger and suburban services stand cancelled up to 12.08.2020: Railway Board,” ANI said in a tweet.
Earlier, the services were suspended till June 30, but considering the rising cases of Coronavirus in the country, the date has been further extended till August 12.
Currently, the railway body is running 230 IRCTC special and Shramik special trains. All regular services have been under suspension since March 25, when the first phase of complete lockdown in the country was announced.
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Reservations for special trains can be made on the IRCTC website or mobile app. However, the authorities have suggested not to go online for cancellation as the money will be directly refunded to the passenger’s account once the train is cancelled.
India has so far recorded at least 4,91,992 cases of Coronavirus. Before the lockdown, the country’s railway services used to operate around 12,000 trains on a daily basis and ferry as many as 2 crore people.
Related: IRCTC Cancels Reservations Till April 30, Passengers To Get Full Refund
