Railways cancels all regular train services till August 12

The Railway Board on Thursday announced that all passenger services, regular mail, express trains have been cancelled till August 12 in view of the coronavirus pandemic.

A full refund will be given to passengers who booked tickets for regular time-tabled trains from July 1 to August 12. 

However, all special trains -- 15 pairs running on the Rajdhani routes since May 12 and 100 pairs operating since June 1 -- will continue, an official order stated.

"All tickets booked for the regular timetabled trains for journey date from 01.07.20 to 12.08.20 also stand cancelled. A full refund will be generated," it added.

Meanwhile,  some select local trains in Mumbai which has resumed services for essential staff will continue to operate. These special suburban services will not be for the general public but strictly for essential staff as identified by the government of Maharashtra.

After the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) issued guidelines for the reopening of the country on May 31, 200 special trains were allowed to ply across the country starting from June 1.

More than 1.45 lakh passengers booked tickets to travel on the starting day, June 1.

As cases continue to increase at a tremendous pace, stalls at the railway platform will sell safety equipment like masks, gloves, sanitisers, bedroll kits.