The Indian Railways has today said that it had refunded a whopping Rs 1885 crore to the passengers who booked tickets during the lockdown period. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Indian railways canceled the passenger train services en masse. The national transporter took this drastic step to curb the spread of Coronavirus infection. It left them with a huge burden of having to return the refund to the passengers who made bookings during the period from March 21 to May 31 through the online mode.
The railways have announced that it has refunded the entire cost of the tickets purchased during the period. The passengers who have booked travel tickets via online mode through the IRCTC application or the website were given the complete refund. However, based on the customer’s mode of payment, the railways have refunded the full amount to the concerned payment channel. The initiative by Indian railways thereby prevented the hassle of passengers visiting the PRS counters for collecting the refund amount.
Post relaxation measures, the Indian Railways resumed the services starting May 12 across the country. Initially, the Indian railways run 15 pairs of trains (30 return journeys, originating from New Delhi to various parts of the country. After that, the national transporter started operating 200 Shramik trains from June 1 for commuting migrant workers to their respective destinations. It is in addition to the already running 30 Rajdhani like special AC trains.