Railways cancels 184 trains till April 1 in Coronavirus fight

The Indian Railways on Wednesday cancelled 99 more trains as a precautionary measure to contain the spread of coronavirus (Covid-19), taking the total number of trains cancelled to 184.

The Northern Railway cancelled 11 pairs of trains on Wednesday, a day after it cancelled five trains amid the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak, which has affected over 150 persons across the country.

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Northern Railway spokesperson Deepak Kumar said: "Eleven trains have been cancelled due to low occupancy and operational reasons." He said the decision was taken in order to regulate unnecessary crowding at stations as a temporary measure.

A senior Railway Ministry official said that besides Northern Railway, the West Central Railway has cancelled 11 trains, East Central Railway has cancelled five trains, Southern Railway cancelled 32 trains, while North Frontier Railway and South Central Railway cancelled 20 trains each.

The official also said that the Railway Board has directed all divisional railway managers to raise platform ticket prices to Rs 50 at important stations which deal with a large rush of passengers or visitors, as in March 2015, the railways had delegated them powers to increase their rates to regulate the rush during specific requirements.

On Tuesday, several zonal railways cancelled 85 trains citing low occupancy amid the coronavirus outbreak in several states. The Central Railway cancelled 23 trains, followed by South Central Railway cancelling 29 trains, Western Railways cancelling 10 trains, the Northern Railways five, North Western Railways four, East Coast Railways five and South Eastern Railways cancelling nine trains from March 18 to April 1.