PR to suspend country wide operations for a week starting today

• Trains operating before midnight of March 24 (Tuesday), will be allowed to leave for their destinations.

KARACHI: Pakistan Railways (PR) has decided to suspend train operations across the country with effect from 12 midnight today for 7 days till 31st March to avoid further spread of Coronavirus, officials said.

Railway will lose as many as 2.5 lac commuters by this decision to halt passenger train for a week.

The decision will not apply on freight train service, which will continue as per schedule. Railways has some 15 freight trains in its fleet.

A few days back, railways had announced to suspend as many as 34 trains (both up and down directions).  But considering the overall situation of the country in the face of rapidly increasing COVID-19, the PR has come up with a drastic decision to halt the entire train operation.

Trains operating before midnight of March 24 (Tuesday), will be allowed to leave for their destinations.

As per notification, the passengers who have advanced booking on the suspended trains will be accommodated in other trains of their choice on priority once the train service is resumed. In case of not availing the ticket they will get full refund after resumption of trains operation.

Sources in railways said that the decision will have a drastic impact on the financial position of the already ailing public transport entity.

They feared that Railways (if train operations remained suspended for a longer period of time) will not be able to even meet is operational expenses, repair of engines, disbursement of salaries and pensions to thousands of Railways employees.

It's relevant to mention here that some 80 percent of the country including Karachi and Lahore has been put under lockdown as precautionary measures to protect masses from the deadly corona virus which has infected over 800 people in the country.

The intercity bus transport from Sindh including the provincial capital has already suspended.