COVID-19 Impact: 39 lakh tickets to be canceled by Indian Railways after lockdown extended till May 3

After PM Modi announced to extend the lockdown on April 14, Indian Railways has also suspended all its passenger trains till May 3. As per the media reports, Railway will also cancel around 39 lakh tickets which were booked for journeys between April 15 and May 3.

The lockdown has been increased by the government in the wake of the spread of coronavirus pandemic across the country.

Yesterday, Indian Railways said it has suspended all train services from April 15 to May 3. Bookings have also been closed until further notice.

Since PM Modi announced a 21-day nationwide lockdown on March 24, Indian Railways had canceled its services from March 25 to April 14. As of now, the lockdown has been extended by the government, Indian Railways suspended its trains for passengers except goods trains.

However, these 39 lakh tickets were booked before the lockdown was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, reports said.

On Tuesday, Railways said, "In continuation of the measures taken in the wake of COVID-19 Lockdown, it has been decided that all passenger train services on Indian Railways including Premium trains, Mail/Express trains, Passenger trains, Suburban Trains, Kolkata Metro Rail, Konkan Railway, etc shall continue to remain canceled till 3rd May 2020.”

For the time being, no booking of any type of tickets, including online tickets will be done until Railways released further notice. Only cancellation of tickets can be done online. All counters for ticket booking for UTS & PRS will also remain closed till further orders.

The Ministry of Railways also said in a press release that a full refund will be given to passengers.

For e-tickets bookings, an automatic refund will be generated to their account while those who booked tickets at the counter their refund will be done till July 31.

A full refund will be given for tickets for the bookings made for the trains canceled, the Ministry of Railways said in a press release.

"As far as the trains cancelled up to May 3 are concerned, the refund would be made automatically by the railways to online customers, while those who have booked at the counters can claim the refund till July 31," the railways said.

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