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The Indian Railways on Thursday cancelled 155 pairs of low-occupancy trains till March 31, as a precautionary measure to discourage non-essential travel and overcrowding in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak across the country. The Indian Railways has also suspended concessional bookings for all major categories of travellers except patients, students and divyangjan category for unreserved & reserved segments from March 20 midnight till March 31 to avoid unnecessay travel, the government said in a press release.
The press release by the Press Information Bureau (PIB) spelled out the following:
- Indian Railways has also facilitated return of students stranded in Northern part of country due to sudden closure of Educational Institutions to their homes in Southern, Northern-Eastern and Eastern regions of India.
- Advisories are being issued to passengers to avoid non-essential train journeys and to ensure that they do not have running fever while they are commencing the journey. At any point of journey if passenger feels that he is having fever, he can contact the Railway Staff for medical attention and further assistance.
- To avoid unnecessary crowding at Railway Stations in wake of spread of COVID 19. It has been instructed to DRMs to review the situation over railway stations and raise the price of Platform Ticket to Rs 50 wherever necessary.
