Railways cancels all passenger trains till August 12; full refund to be generated

In a major development, the Indian Railway Board, on Thursday, has cancelled regular time-tabled passenger services including Mail/Express, passenger and suburban services till August 12, 2020, amid ‘Unlock 1’. The board has clarified that full refund will be generated for all tickets booked for journey dates from 01.07.2020 to 12.08.2020. Special trains will continue to run, added Railways. 

Average ticket fare on Shramik trains Rs 600, spent Rs 3,400 per passenger: Railways

Railways cancels passenger trains till August 12    

No pendency from states on payment for Shramik Special trains: Railways

Railways refunds all booking till April 14

On Tuesday, Railways announced that it has decided to give a full refund for tickets booked on or before April 14. Trains were cancelled across the country due to the lockdown that began on March 25 to contain the spread of Coronavirus. Later on May 16, select passenger train services resumed in the country.

Indian Railways to provide full refund for all regular trains booked till April 14

Shramik trains

Amid the migrant crisis due to lockdown, Railways flagged ‘Shramik special’ trains from May 1 to transport stranded migrant workers, pilgrims, students and tourists across the country. The railways have till now run 4,436 Shramik trains, ferrying over 62 lakh passengers. Currently the need for Shramik trains have reduced drastically with only 15 trains run on Monday, as per reports.

The Centre and states had initially gotten into a tussle regarding the migrant train fare. Railways claimed that Centre was footing 85% of the fare while 15% were borne by states. Railways clarified on Monday, that there is no pendency in payment of fares from state governments for the Shramik Special train services.

Railways added that it spent Rs 3,400 per Shramik train passenger and incurred a total loss of around Rs 2,040 crore in running these trains. Moreover, the average fare per person on Shramik Special trains was Rs 600, which give the Railways a revenue of Rs 360 crore.  Moreover, 230 trains that are being operated currently most of them have no waitlisting till June and July.

Coronavirus Live Updates: India's case tally at 4.7 lakhs; recovery rate at 57.43%

India under lockdown

Currently, Centre's nationwide- Coronavirus lockdown has been extended in containment zones till June 30, 2020. The country has already begun re-opening of the areas outside containment zones in three phases from June 8. As per the new guidelines, schools, colleges and other educational institutions will be opened in consultation with respective states and Union Territories from July 2020. India's active cases stand at 186,514, recovered cases at 271,696 with 14,894 fatalities. India's recovery rate too has improved to 57.41%, while its fatality stands at one COVID-19 death per lakh population which is one of the lowest in the world, as stated by the Centre.