COVID-19 impact: South Eastern Railway cancels several trains due to low occupancy

New Delhi: South Eastern Railway on Tuesday (March 17) decided to cancel as many as nine trains due to low occupancy in view of the coronavirus epidemic, said a statement. 

The statement said, "Due to poor patronization for the cause of coronavirus precaution, it has been decided to cancel the following trains as per the schedule stated under:" 

Meanwhile, Indian Railways today increased prices of platform tickets from Rs 10 to Rs 50 - a five-fold hike - for 250 stations in the country to minimise the footfalls at the stations amid rising cases of the novel coronavirus.

A senior Rail Ministry official told Zee Media that the zonal railways have decided to increase the prices of platform tickets for crows management, adding “Platform ticket price has been increased to Rs 50 at about 250 stations across the country to ensure crowd control."

He further stated that the Western Railways has also increased the platform ticket fare to Rs 50 in 6 Divisions - Mumbai, Vadodara, Ahmedabad, Ratlam, Rajkot, Bhavnagar, till further orders. 

He, however, added that the increase in the platform ticket prices is a temporary measure to contain an extra load of people on the railway premises. 

He also pointed out that in March 2015, the railways has delegated the power to Divisional Railway Managers (DRMS) to increase the rate of platform tickets beyond Rs 10 to regulate rush at platforms during specific requirements under intimation of its office.  

The price of platform tickets has also been raised to Rs 50 from Rs 10 for 12 stations in Bihar. It will come into effect from March 19 at midnight. 

The stations are--Patna, Danapur, Pataliputra, Rajendra Nagar, Patna Sahib, Bakhtiarpur, Barh, Arrah, Mokama, Jehanabad, Bihar Sharif, and Rajgir. The rest of the stations will sell platform tickets at the rate of Rs 10.