The Indian Railways subsidiary, Indian Rail Catering and Tourism Corporation or IRCTC, on Tuesday suspended bookings for its three private trains till April 30. The Railways had earlier suspended its services till April 14 in the wake of the three-week lockdown announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi from March 25 during his second special address to the nation.
The bookings for the three trains -- the Kashi Mahakal Express on the Varanasi-Indore route, the Lucknow-New Delhi Tejas and the Ahmedabad Mumbai Tejas -- were earlier stopped only between March 25 and April 15 during the nationwide lockdown due to the coronavirus crisis, and booking of tickets for travel after the lockdown period was allowed.
Officials said the decision to not run the trains till April 30 was taken keeping in mind that the cases of coronavirus in the country were increasing by the day.
All passengers who have booked tickets during that period will get full refunds, an India Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) official said.
The Indian Railways has cancelled over 13,600 passengers trains across the country in a bid to combat the spread of novel coronavirus. Only freight trains are running to ensure the supply of essential services. About 9,000 freight trains are transporting essential items every day across the country.
(With Inputs from PTI)
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