All passenger trains other than “special trains” & those for carrying migrant workers cancelled till June 30

Indian Railways has cancelled all tickets for passenger trains – which includes both mail, express and suburban services – for journeys booked up to June 30. Passengers whose tickets get cancelled due to this will be given full refund, the Railways have said in a statement on Thursday.

These cancelled tickets had been booked before the lockdown was started, when bookings were open for June, as the Indian Railways allows booking of tickets 120 days in advance.

However, trains running to take stranded migrants and special passenger trains that have started running from this week between Delhi and 15 railway stations across the country will continue to operate. The special trains are being run in order to normalise movement of trains across the country bit by bit, but these are all AC trains with huge rush for booking.

All non-essential trains – including passenger trains – have been suspended since March 22, three days after the lockdown was started across India to contain Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19). Now, with the lockdown extended upto May 17, the railways authorities had stopped taking bookings for these trains. But, on Sunday, there was an announcement to start services in phases. Therefore, 15 special trains – involving 30 journeys – have been started across the country to and from Delhi connecting cities in 14 states, including West Bengal.