Coronavirus: India suspended train services in March.
Highlight
- Only special trains announced in May and June will work, railroads said.
- Previously, the railways had increased the number of special passenger trains.
- Rail services stopped in late March to stop the spread of the virus.
New Delhi:
Indian Railways said Thursday that it will refund all tickets reserved for regular trains between July 1 and August 12, as coronavirus cases in the country increased a month after the government began to relax some of the restrictions imposed. in March. Only special trains announced in May and June will work, the railways said.
Rail services, in addition to the movement of some essential cargoes, abruptly stopped in late March before efforts to contain the virus that froze almost all economic activity, leaving millions of people jobless overnight.
Earlier this month, the railways had increased the number of special passenger trains running in the country from 30 to more than 200. These include 15 pairs of trains running on Rajdhani routes since May 12 and 100 pairs operating from June 1.
As coronavirus cases continue to rising and uncertainty about when normal services will resume, authorities said they wanted to reimburse all tickets reserved for regular trains. Before closing, the railroads operated around 12,000 trains each day, transporting 2 million people.
The limited special suburban services that recently started in Mumbai to transport essential services personnel identified by local authorities will also continue to operate, authorities said.
According to the rules issued by the Ministry of the Interior to travel, all passengers must undergo thermal control and only those who are asymptomatic will be able to board the train.
Onboard the trains, all passengers were asked to maintain social distance and wear face masks throughout the journey. All passengers are also recommended to use hand sanitizers.
Meals, bedding, blankets, or curtains will not be provided inside the train. Passengers are advised to bring their own sheets if necessary. The temperatures inside the air conditioning coaches must be properly regulated for this purpose.
India recorded a record of 16,922 new cases on Thursday, bringing the total number of cases in the country to nearly 5 lakh with almost 15,000 deaths.
That is behind only the United States, Brazil and Russia, and five times more than China, which has a population of similar size and where the virus originated late last year.
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