Indian Railways Cancels Bookings For Regular Trains Till June 30, Passengers With Tickets To Get Full Refund

Indian Railways on Thursday said that it has cancelled all bookings for train tickets made till June 30, but Special and Shramik trains will ply as usual.

Passengers board the first train 02301 Howrah-New Delhi Special, departs from Howrah in Kolkata, India, 12 May, 2020. Indian Railways announced a limited re-opening of its rail network beginning on Tuesday, after a nearly seven-week nationwide lockdown to slow the spreading of the Covid-19. (Photo by Indranil Aditya/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

New Delhi: Indian Railways announced that it has cancelled all tickets booked to travel on or before June 30th, 2020. Refunds have been given to all tickets booked till the date, the body said. All special trains and Shramik Special train will however ply as usual. Regular train services, including Mail, Express, Passenger, and Suburban have been cancelled, said a notification issued by Director, Passenger Marketing, Railway Board. "The competent authority has desired that all tickets booked for trains for the period up to June 30, 2020 may be cancelled and full refund generated," it said in the statement. Earlier, all bookings for regular trains were stopped till May 17, till lockdown 3.0 remains in force. The railways has suspended Passenger, Mail and Express trains since March 24. Only freight and special parcel trains are in operation to ensure supply of essential commdities across the country. The Railways started 15 pairs of Special Rajdhani trains from Tuesday. Shramik Special trains to transport stranded migrant workers, students, pilgrims and tourists were resumed from May 1. Also Watch: Special trains update: Passengers disallowed train travel due to COVID-19 symptoms to get full refund Passengers who are disallowed from travelling on trains because of symptoms associated with the novel coronavirus will receive full refund for their tickets, the railways has said. According to the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs, all passengers shall be compulsorily screened and only asymptomatic passengers shall be allowed to enter/board trains. "If, during screening, a passenger has very high temperature/symptoms of COVID-19 etc., he shall not be allowed to travel despite having confirmed tickets. In such case full refund shall be provided to the passenger," the order stated. (additional inputs from agencies) .