No passenger trains during 'Janta Curfew' on Mar 22: Indian Railways

Indian Railways on Friday announced that all passenger trains will remain cancelled on March 22 in the wake of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's appeal for a 'Janta Curfew'.

"All passenger trains originating between midnight of 21/ 22.03.2020 to 2200 hours of 22.03.2020 approximately 2400 services) on 22nd March, 2020 shall not be run. However, the passenger train services already on run at 0700 hrs on the day will be allowed to run to the destinations divisions should keep a watch and trains which are empty could be short terminated if required," read a release by the Ministry of Railways.

"Services of Mail/express and intercity trains shall be reduced to bare minimum level only to cater to essential travel requirement keeping in view that the day falls on a holiday i.. Sunday," it said.

According to the ministry, all long-distance mail/express and intercity trains originating between 0400 hrs and 2200 hrs on the day (22d March 2020) will remain cancelled (approximately 1300 services)

However, trains already on run at 0700 hrs on the day will be allowed to run to the destinations, it said.

Suburban services in Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, and Secunderabad shall be reduced to a bare minimum level only to cater to essential travel requirement on March 22, Sunday.

According to a release of East Coast Railway, "All over Indian railways, no train will start from its originating station between 0400 hrs (4 am) - 2200 hrs (10 pm) on 22-03-2020 (Sunday) in view of proposed janata curfew. Trains that have started from originating station and are on run before 4 am of 22 march, 2020 will be allowed to run upto their destination stations."

In his address to the nation on Thursday, Prime Minister Modi had appealed to citizens to follow "Janta curfew" on March 22 in the view of novel coronavirus outbreak

He also requested senior citizens and children to remain indoors for the next few weeks.

According to official data, the total number of people infected with novel coronavirus touched 223.