Passenger trains to remain cancelled till next orders: Railways

Ajay Joshi

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, August 12

Dispelling rumours of Indian railways extending the suspension period of regular passenger and sub-urban trains till September 30, the city railway station authorities on Wednesday confirmed that such rumours, being circulated largely on social media, were fake. However, the suspended train services would still not resume till further orders. The cancellation or discontinuation of the trains was earlier scheduled till August 12.

Citing a copy of the orders released by the Ministry of Railways, Vikas Jaitley, an official at the railway station, said, “The regular passenger and other local trains that were running before the lockdown will continue to remain cancelled till further notice. Whereas occupancy in special trains is being monitored on a regular basis and additional trains may be run if the need arises. Therefore, at present only nine Covid special trains are operating from the city railway station.”

The special express or mail trains running on long routes are — the Golden Temple Mail (02904/02903), Sachkhand Express (02716/02715), Saryu Yamuna Express (Amritsar to Jainagar) (04650/04649), Narasapur-Hyderabad special train (02758/02757), Karambhumi special train; Amritsar to New Jalpaigudi (02408/02407), Paschim Express; Amritsar-Mumbai (Bandra) (02926/02925), Amritsar- Haridwar Janshatabdi Express (02054/02053); Jammu Tavi-New Delhi Express (02426/02425); and Shaheed Express (04674/ 04673).

Reportedly, after an SSE (C&W) at the city railway station was found infected with the virus on July 28, as many as 14 staff members at the station were asked to work from home. After the cancellation of trains, which was ordered by the Railways to avoid any physical contact between people, migrants and labourers are the worst affected. The waiting hall can still be seen occupied by a large number of passengers. While some even sit on floors, others keep waiting for their trains outside the railway station.