In the wake of pandemic, all regular time-tabled passenger services, including Mail/Express trains, passenger and suburban services stand cancelled until 12 August, the Railway Board said on Thursday.
“It has been decided that regular time-tabled passenger services including Mail/Express, passenger and suburban services stand cancelled up to 12.08.2020,” the Railway Board said in a statement.
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 pic.twitter.com/Pt1EIreC5y
— ANI (@ANI) June 25, 2020
All the tickets booked for the regular time-tabled trams for the journey date from July 1 to August 12 also stand cancelled.
“We have only enabled refunds for trains which are not being operated and for which tickets have been booked prior to lock down and upto April 14. No trains which are presently operational have been cancelled. Special Trains will continue to run. As far as the running of more trains is concerned, all will be informed and bookings will be done, as and when the decision is taken about them. There no blanket order ruling out running of more trains till 12 August,” a spokesperson from the Indian Railways said.
The Railways, in a notification issued on May 15, had cancelled all trains scheduled for travel till June 30, 2020, and decided to refund the tickets. The latest extension for cancellation of trains comes in the wake of an unrelenting surge in coronavirus cases in the country.
Refund of ‘normal’ train tickets, that is, those booked before the suspension during the period of travel between June 25 and August 12 will also be allowed.
The latest announcement, however, does not affect the special trains run by the government to transport migrant workers, the railways board said.
The Railways earlier said it will provide a full refund for all regular tickets booked before or on April 14, 2020. The regular train tickets booked for a date 120 days after April 14, 2020, will be cancelled and the IRCTC will initiate a full refund. The IRCTC also advised passengers to not cancel their tickets in case it cancels trains.
Once a train is cancelled in the system by the Indian railways, the refund is automatically processed. The IRCTC has suspended advance reservation for regular train services from April 15.
The Railways is running 230 special trains on routes specified. Special train services were started to assist the movement of stranded citizens requiring urgent travel.