18 March,2020 07:01 AM IST | Mumbai | Rajendra B Aklekar
A rail employee cleans a train at CSMT. Pic/Suresh Karkera
The railways announced the cancellation of a host of outstation trains on the Central Railway (CR) and Western Railway (WR), including the CR's Rajdhani Express and Deccan Queen, citing low occupancy and an additional preventive measure following the Coronavirus outbreak.
While the CR cancelled 32 trains till March 31, the WR cancelled 35 trips of 10 train services due to low occupancy, including the Duronto Express and Humsafar Express. "Central Railway has cancelled trains to contain the effects of Coronavirus and due to non-occupancy," CR's chief public relations officer Shivaji Sutar said. CR and WR are also discussing discontinuing air-conditioned trains. Details of all cancelled trains are available on the social media accounts of WR and CR.
Thermal screening at stations
The CR installed thermal check points for commuters at major stations. "Commuters can get their temperature checked before entering CSMT, Thane, Dadar and Kalyan railway stations," Sutar said.
Platform tickets costlier
The fare of platform tickets has been more than doubled and will vary as per crowding patterns at different stations. The charges of dormitories have been hiked too.
"The rate of platform tickets has been increased from R10 to R50 at 26 stations of WR's Mumbai Division. These stations are Surat, Bandra Terminus, Borivali, Udhna, Mumbai Central, Vapi, Dadar, Valsad, Navsari, Andheri, Vasai Road, Boisar, Nandurbar, Bilimora, Amalner, Virar, Palghar, Bandra, Bhayandar, Dahanu Road, Goregaon, Nalasopara, Vyara, Dondaicha, Churchgate and Malad," WR's chief public relations officer Ravinder Bhakar said. "There will be no change in the rate of platform tickets of the rest of the stations. Similarly, the other divisions of WR have also increased platform ticket rates at select stations from R10 to R50 as a precautionary measure for crowd management," he said. CR though, increased rates on Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Bhusaval and Solapur divisions.
List of trains and dates of cancellations
Central Railway
Western Railway
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