Indian Railways cancels regular passenger trains till further notice

Shramik and other special trains continue to run

In the wake of the lockdown imposed due to Coronavirus, the
Indian Railways has taken the decision to cancel all its regular passenger
trains including Mail/Express, Passenger and Suburban train services till
further advice. However the Shramik Special and other Special Train services
started from 1st May & 12th May, 2020 will continue to be operated. It’s
also decided that all tickets booked for travel for the period upto 30th June,
2020 shall be fully refunded.



According to a press release issued by WR CPRO Ravinder
Bhakar, the Indian Railways has also given guidelines and terms of refund of fare
if in case a passenger is found unfit for travelling due to symptoms of
Coronavirus. As per the Ministry of Home Affairs guidelines, all passengers are
to be compulsorily thermal screened and only asymptomatic passengers will be
allowed to enter/board the train. If during the screening, a passenger is found
to have very high temperature or symptoms of COVID-19, he/she shall not be
allowed to travel despite having confirmed tickets.



In such case, full refund shall be provided to the passenger
as under:



a) On PNR having a single passenger.

b) On a party ticket, if one passenger is found unfit to
travel and also all other passengers on the same PNR do not want to travel, in
that case full refund shall be granted for all passengers.

c) On a party ticket, if one passenger is found unfit to
travel, however other passengers on the PNR want to travel, in that case full
refund shall be granted to the passenger who was not allowed to travel.



Bhakar stated that for all the above cases, TTE certificates
shall be issued to the passenger at the entry /checking/ screening point itself
mentioning “Number of Passengers not travelled due to symptoms of COVID-19
in one or more passengers”. After getting TTE certificates, online TDR
shall be filed for refund of not travelled passengers, within 10 days from the
date of journey and the original TTE certificate issued shall be sent by the
passenger to IRCTC as per extant provision and full fare for the part
passenger/full who have not travelled shall be refunded by IRCTC in the
customer’s account.