COVID-19: Indian Railways cancels all passenger trains till Mar 31

NEW DELHI — The Indian Railways said on Sunday that all passenger trains across the country will not run till March 31 as the number of COVID-19 patients rose to 341 as it extended its initial order of cancelling trains only on March 22 for the Janta Curfew.

The order issued by the Ministry of Railways said goods trains will continue to run to ensure essentials while some “bare minimum” suburban rail services will also continue.

This comes a day after the Railways issued an advisory to those under quarantine to not travel by trains after the national transporter found at least 12 passengers flouting self-quarantine norms and subsequently testing positive for Sar-Cov-2.

West Bengal and Jharkhand have asked the Indian Railways to cancel all trains entering the states from Sunday or March 22 till March 31.

The Railways had on Friday announced that nearly 3700 passenger and mail express trains would be cancelled on Sunday till 10 PM following the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call for a people’s curfew.