Indian Railways has said passengers will be fully refunded if they cancel their tickets till April 15 as a step to avoid crowding in public places and aid social distancing as the number of Sars-Cov-2 cases in India stood at 258 on Saturday.
The railways said passengers will be refunded 100% if trains are cancelled between March 21 and April 15 this year and those who do not wish to travel on operational trains also to get their money back.
“Indian Railways relaxes refund rules for PRS (Passenger Reservation System) counter generated tickets. All rules for e-ticket remain same as the passenger does not need to come to the station for a refund of the ticket,” the transporter said in an advisory on Saturday.
The Indian Railways has also said it will not operate any passenger train from any railway station in the country from midnight on Saturday to 10pm on Sunday, when a Janta Curfew will be observed.
Mail and express trains will also stop services from 4am on Sunday, the transporter has said. All intercity trains will also remain cancelled till 10pm on Sunday.
All suburban train services in Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai and Secunderabad will be reduced to a bare minimum as well.
The railways had on Friday cancelled 90 trains, which will not operate between March 20 and March 31, amid low occupancy and the novel coronavirus pandemic. With this, the total number of cancelled trains has climbed to 245.
The national transporter has also issued a set of guidelines to zonal headquarters for its catering staff, stating no employee having fever, cough, runny nose or difficulty in breathing “should be deployed in the business of food handling on the Indian Railways”.
The number of Covid-19 cases in India rose to 258 after 22 fresh cases were reported from various parts of the country, the Union health ministry said on Saturday. The figure also includes four deaths.
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