KARACHI: Pakistan Railways on Tuesday announced the closure of all passenger trains across the country till March 31, in order to contain the spread of coronavirus.
According to a notification released by Ministry of Railways, the train service will remain suspended from 12:00 am (Wednesday) till March 31.
The authorities have said that those who booked their advance tickets from the reservation counters should contact the ministry for refund. Operations of freight trains would not be curtailed, the notification added.
Pakistan Railways earlier announced to reduce operations due to coronavirus pandemic and suspended 40 passenger trains for up and down tracks from March 25.
In a video message, Railways Minister Sheikh Rasheed said that 24 more trains have been suspended in view of the increasing number of cases of COVID-19 across the country.
He added that the overall 34 out of 134 trains were halted for travel operations.
The Sindh government had also requested the federal government suspend train services in the province.
On Monday, while talking to journalists following a provincial cabinet meeting on coronavirus, Sindh Minister for Local Government Syed Nasir Hussain Shah had said that they would contact the federal government to stop the people arriving in the province through trains.
