Indian Railways Suspends All Regular Passenger Trains Indefinitely, 230 Special Trains Remain In Service

by Suchismita Pal
Indian Railways Suspends All Regular Passenger Trains Indefinitely,  230 Special Trains Remain In Service

Due to the alarming surge in the coronavirus cases in India, Indian Railways has suspended all passenger trains for an indefinite period of time. However, the 230 special trains will continue to operate. These special trains include 15 pairs of trains on Rajdhani routes operating since May 12 ,2020 and 100 pairs operating since June 1. All other regular trains and suburban trains will remain suspended until further notice. Read on to know the details.

Indian Railways Suspends All Passenger Trains Till Further Notice

A press release by the Government of India on August 11 read, “This is to bring to the notice of all concerned that as decided and informed earlier as well, regular passenger and suburban train services will continue to remain suspended till further notice.” It added, “230 Special trains, which are running at present, will continue to operate. Local trains in Mumbai, which are presently being run on limited basis only on the requisition of state government, will also continue to run.” Also, Indian Railways might become the world’s first Green Railways by 2030.

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Trains That Will Continue To Operate

During the coronavirus lockdown, before May 12, only freight trains and parcel special trains carrying essential commodities like vegetables, fruits, dairy products, etc. were operating. Also, the railway authorities had transformed over 20,000 coaches into quarantine facilities and COVID-care centres. The 15 pairs of trains running since May 12 are special passenger trains from New Delhi Railway Station to Howrah, Secunderabad, Bengaluru, Patna, Mumbai Central, Ranchi, Agartala, Thiruvananthapuram, Chennai, Bhubaneswar, Ahmedabad, Dibrugarh, Bilaspur, Madgaon and Jammu Tawi. Indian Railways had also begun services of 200 non-AC trains daily from June 1 2020. These trains will continue to operate. All other regular trains and suburban trains will remain suspended until further notice. The Railways has also informed that additional special trains might run based on the requirement.

Indian Railways
Picture Credits: India Rail Info

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The Railways has estimated that it is going to suffer a loss of nearly ₹40,000 crores after the suspension of the passenger trains. With around 60,963 new cases, the coronavirus tally in India has gone up to a whopping 2.33 million.  To combat the virus spread, Kolkata airport, too, has extended the ban on entry of flights from six cities Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, Nagpur and Ahmedabad till August 31. Meanwhile, did you know about this underwater bullet train from UAE to India?