Big worry! Indian Railways unlikely to resume normal operations till mid-August – Here is why

In what will come as a big setback for travellers, the Indian Railways is unlikely to resume normal operations till mid-August, after having cancelled all regular trains till August 12, 2020. The cancellation was announced in a notification issued today. All special Rajdhani, mail and express trains, however, will continue to operate. All the tickets booked for the regular time-tabled trams for the journey date from July 1 to August 12 also stand cancelled.

"It has been decided that regular time-tabled passenger services including Mail and Express, passenger and suburban services stand cancelled up to 12.08.2020," the Railway Board said in the notification. 

The national transporter informed that it has enabled refunds for trains which are not being operated and for which tickets have been booked prior to lock down and upto April 14. No trains which are presently operational have been cancelled. 

“Special Trains will continue to run. As far as the running of more trains is concerned, all will be informed and bookings will be done, as and when the decision is taken about them. There no blanket order ruling out running of more trains till 12 August," a spokesperson from the Indian Railways said.  

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The Railways, in a notification issued on May 15, had cancelled all trains scheduled for travel till June 30, 2020, and decided to refund the tickets. Refund of 'normal' train tickets, that is, those booked before the suspension during the period of travel between June 25 and August 12 will also be allowed.

The decision to extend the cancellation comes in the wake of sudden spike in coronavirus cases in India.

Earlier, the Indian Railways had suggested passengers to not cancel their tickets in case it cancels trains. It said that refunds will be initiated by IRCTC. Once a train is cancelled in the system by the Indian Railways, the refund is automatically processed. The IRCTC has suspended advance reservation for regular train services from April 15.

The Railways is running 230 special trains on routes specified. Special train services were started to assist the movement of stranded citizens requiring urgent travel.