Breaking: All Passenger Trains Suspended till March 31 amid Corona Crisis

New Delhi, March 22, 2020:

Adding to the woes of the common man in the midst of the worst health crisis in recent memory, the Indian Railways have announced that all passenger trains, starting today, will be cancelled upto midnight of March 31.

This was informed via a notification issued by the Ministry of Railways. In the notification, the Government informed that all originating long-distance Mail/Express and Intercity trains (including premium trains) shall remain cancelled till 12 midnight on the 31st of March.

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Meanwhile, suburban trains and trains of Metro Railway, Kolkata shall be continued at bare minimum level until 12 midnight on March 22. They too shall be cancelled till March 31.

However, trains which had commenced their journey prior to 0400 of 22.03.2020 will run up to their destinations. Meanwhile, freight operations will continue.

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At the same time, the Zonal Railways have been advised by the Ministry to ensure strict adherence to the instructions issued by the Government, and they have been advised to do wide publicity through print and electronic media, to inform that passenger trains have been suspended.

This decision has been taken on the janata curfew day, when Indian Railways have cancelled all the passenger trains amid the ongoing curfew, that has kept Indians mostly indoors.

All the passenger trains have been cancelled from 00:00 hours on March 22, i.e. Sunday. The suburban services in Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai and Secunderabad will also be reduced to minimal levels.

The Ministry of Railways said that the decision has been taken in view of the fact that the demand for rail travel will be vastly reduced during the Janta Curfew.

At the same time, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) issued a statement on March 20 saying that all the asymptomatic individuals who have undertaken international travel in the last 14 days should stay in home quarantine for 14 days, and that they will be tested only if they become symptomatic (symptoms include fever, cough, difficulty in breathing). All family members living with a confirmed case should be home quarantined too, according to guideline.

All the symptomatic contacts of laboratory confirmed cases, all the symptomatic health care workers, and all hospitalized patients with Severe Acute Respiratory Illness (fever and cough and/or shortness of breath) will be tested as well.

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