Coronavirus scare: CR, WR cancel several trains on intercity routes till March end

Nitin Parmar, a Zonal Railway Users Consultative Committee (ZRUCC) member said, “Despite two trains being cancelled on the Mumbai-Pune routes, there are various others available on the same route, such as Deccan Queen and Indrayani, among others. Those who have to travel can adjust to these trains.” He added that in the past two weeks, there has been a drop in the passengers travelling in the trains.

Similarly, WR cancelled 10 trains, including three pairs of Duranto to Delhi, Jaipur and Indore, along with Humsafar Express, heading from Mumbai to Jamnagar and Puri. A senior WR officer said, “The trains which had an occupancy of less than 20 per cent have been cancelled. We are looking at other trains and depending on further review will cancel more.”

According to Kamlesh Shah, former ZRUCC member, abrupt cancellations will cause inconvenience to those who had made plans, but these measures will help in containing the spread of the virus.

Apart from cancellation of long distance trains, the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) cancelled 9,262 trips across the state on March 16, while between March 11 and 16, a total of 20,957 trips were cancelled.

On March 16 alone, about 348 trips between Mumbai, Pune and Aurangabad on their premium shivneri routes were cancelled as well. Officials from MSRTC attributed the cancellation to poor response from passengers and to restrict passenger movement.