Suburban trains and the Kolkata metro will be functioning at the bare minimum level till the end of Sunday and services will be discontinued completely from Monday onward, the General Manager of Indian Railways said today.
"As advised earlier, suburban trains and trains of Metro Railway, Kolkata shall be continued at bare minimum level until 2400 hours of 22.03.2020. Thereafter, all suburban trains and trains of Metro Railway, Kolkata shall be totally cancelled from 2400 hours of 22.03.2020 to 2400 hours of 31.03.2020," read an official notice released on Sunday.
While the Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government had earlier called for a ban till the end of the month on trains travelling in and out of the city, the announcement on Sunday covers the entirety of India.
Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal announced on Sunday via Twitter that no passenger trains would run till the 31st of March.
All passenger trains slated to depart on Sunday, that is from midnight onwards, had been cancelled as the nation prepared for the Janata Curfew. This has now been extended and includes Premium trains, Mail/Express trains, Passenger trains, Suburban Trains, Kolkata Metro Rail and the Konkan Railway.
The ban will however not affect goods trains.
"Trains which had already commenced their journey, prior to 0400 hrs of 22.03.2020, will run up to their destinations," a Government press release said.
The circular added that a full refund would be available for all cancelled trains which has to be collected by the 21st of June.
India has so far recorded over 320 cases of the novel coronavirus. Of these 296 are active coronavirus cases while 23 people have been 'cured'. According to reports three people who had tested positive for the virus passed away on Sunday.
