Soon after the announcement of COVID-19 lockdown extension by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Indian Railways on Tuesday stated that it is suspending all passenger services till May 3.
"Indian Railways extends suspension of its passenger services till May 3," informed Rajesh Dutt Bajpai Executive Director(I & P) Ministry of Railways.
"All passenger train services on Indian Railways including Premium trains, Mail/Express trains, Passenger trains, Suburban Trains, Kolkata Metro Rail, Konkan Railway etc shall continue to remain suspended till the 2400 hrs of 3rd May," he added.
However, freight movement will continue to carry essential commodities across the country.
Informing about the cancellation of ticket booking, Bajpai stated that all booking counters of rail journey tickets for reserved/unreserved travel at railway stations and outside railway station premises will also be closed till May 3.
Earlier, the railways had also ordered the closure of all rail museums, heritage galleries and heritage parks as a preventive measure to control the spread of the deadly virus.
So far, India has reported 10,363 COVID-19 cases. Out of the total, 1036 have been cured and 339 have died due to the infection.