MASSIVE: Railways suspends all passenger train operations till March 31

In a big development, Indian Railways has cancelled all passenger trains till March 31 in order to mitigate the outbreak of Coronavirus. This development comes at the backdrop of over 350 positive COVID-19 cases across India. As per sources, No trains except goods train will run across India till March 31.

Furthermore, a meeting is scheduled for 5:30 pm on March 22 for the discussion on the same. There are several proposals out of which one is the zone wise closure of passenger trains till March 25 and March 31 respectively. The Railway Ministry is in touch with the Home Ministry and the final call will be taken soon.

Earlier, in its bid to ease the situation, Indian Railways announced it would relax refund rules for tickets booked under Passenger Reservation System (PRS). It has advised passengers to avail this facility and avoid coming to the railway station in person. The relaxation is for passengers who booked tickets to travel between March 21- April 15, 2020.

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Pan-India shut down on March 22

Indian Railways on Friday announced that there will be a pan-India shutdown for all passenger trains on Sunday on account of Janta Curfew. In a statement, it was stated that all trains originating from 10 pm on March 21 to March 22 midnight will be suspended. Passenger trains already in operation on Sunday at 7 am will be allowed to run on the 'Janta Curfew' day.

Similarly, mails/express trains originating on the day of 'Janta curfew' are being cancelled, but those already running will be allowed to proceed. On Sunday, it was clarified that 60% of Central Railway services would be operational instead of the mega block. 

READ: Railways relaxes refund rules for travel between March 21-June 21

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