New Delhi: The Indian Railways has extended the suspension of its passenger services till May 3, senior officials said on Tuesday.
They said the decision was taken after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that the lockdown across the country will be extended till May 3 to fight the coronavirus pandemic.
To ensure further safety, the officials said, "all counters for booking of rail journey tickets for reserved/unreserved travel at railway stations and outside railway station premises shall remain closed till the lockdown."
Only goods and parcel trains will continue to run to ensure adequate supplies of essential items throughout the country. "To ensure the essential supplies in various parts of the country, movement of goods and parcel trains will continue."
They are also set to cancel around 39 lakh tickets booked for travel between April 15 and May 3 due to extension of the nationwide lockdown and suspension of passenger trains till then in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, sources told PTI.
With the national transporter allowing tickets to be booked during the 21-day lockdown for journeys after April 14, around 39 lakh bookings were made by passengers hoping that trains will be in operation post-lockdown.
However, with the announcement of the extension of the lockdown period, railways on Tuesday not only cancelled all its passenger services till May 3 but also stopped all advance bookings.
All passengers will, however, get full refund for tickets booked for the cancelled trains as well as for those booked in advance.
Railways has also said full refunds would be automatically provided by the national transporter for its online customers, while those who have booked at the counters can take the refunds up to July 31.
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