Railways cancels tickets for regular trains until 12 August

The number of Coronavirus cases are rising rapidly across India. Inter-state passenger travel is likely to make it worse due to which Indian railways have cancelled all regular trains till 12 August. 230 special trains that were announced in May and June will continue to run. All tickets booked for regular trains between 1 July and 12 August will be cancelled and amount will be refunded to passengers.

When the lockdown was announced on 24 March railways had stopped all the trains, but some cargo trains were still running to transport essentials. In a few weeks, railways started running trains to transport migrant workers to their hometowns. Special trains with limited number of stops in every state were introduced on May. In June, they increased number of trains from 30 to 200. Passengers had to strictly undergo thermal screening, wear face masks and maintain social distancing. Only online tickets were provided.

Before the lockdown, railways had operated 12,000 trains every day with at least 2 crore people using it.

In India, over 4 lakh Coronavirus cases have been reported. More than 15,000 people have reportedly died from the virus infection. Maharashtra has the most number of cases with over 1 lakh people being tested positive. Gujarat, Delhi and Tamil Nadu are the other states that have been affected.

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