The Indian Railways on Thursday said it would refund all tickets booked for regular trains between 1 July and 12 August as Covid-19 cases in the country surged a month after the government started relaxing some of the restrictions imposed in March. Only special trains would run, the railways said.
With coronavirus cases seeing a major spike and the uncertainty over when normal services will resume, officials said they would refund all tickets booked for regular trains.
Before the nationwide lockdown imposed to put a curb on the Covid curve, the Railways operated around 12,000 trains every day, transporting more than 2 crore people.
Earlier this month, the railways had increased the number of special passenger trains running in the country from 30 to over 200. These include 15 pairs of trains running on the Rajdhani routes since 12 May and 100 pairs operating since 1 June.
Under the rules issued by the Home Ministry for travel, all passengers are required undergo thermal screening and only those found asymptomatic will be allowed to board the train. On board the trains, all passengers were asked to maintain social distancing and wear face masks. All passengers are also advised to use hand-sanitisers. No catering, bed linen, blankets or curtains will be provided inside the train. Passengers are advised to carry their own bedsheets.
India registered a record 16,922 new cases on Thursday. The total number of the Covid-19 cases in the country is almost 5 lakh, with nearly 15,000 deaths.
With inputs from agencies