The cancellations of all trains in the network of Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) Zone till March 31, will lead to losses of more than Rs 50 crores, railway officials said.
“On an average by the sale of passenger tickets NFR earns around Rs 2 crore per day, on the freight carrier it is around 3.5 crore a day, on both these accounts NFR will incur huge losses,” Subhanand Chanda, chief public relation officer told UNI.
Indian Railways has cancelled nearly 200 trains to contain the spread of novel coronavirus outbreak in India.
Moreover, the cancellations may lead to more in March. They are expected to rise further in the remaining days of the months, Chanda added.
He also informed that a decision has taken that around 800 contractual staff on house boarding who were involved in cleaning will be paid by the NFR.
Ticket cancellations were at a record high this month as people reduced travel after Covid-19 infections started picking pace in India.
More than 70 percent tickets have been cancelled between March 1 and 20 in only the NFR Zone.
Indian Railways has allowed refunds on cancellation by withdrawing concessional booking of tickets to senior citizens for unreserved and reserved segments from March 20 till further notice.
This step has been taken by the railways to discourage people from travelling unless necessary.
In Parliament, it has been informed that the Indian Railways has encountered 63 percent cancellation during the outbreak and it is expected to rise further.
