Pakistan Railways begins complete refund of cancelled trains’ tickets

KARACHI: Pakistan Railways has started complete refund process of the advance ticket payment to the passengers who had to travel from the suspended trains services amid fears of coronavirus outbreak, ARY NEWS reported.

Announcing the development, the railways authorities said that only those who booked their advance tickets from the reservation counters at the stations had to visit the stations.

“The others who booked their tickets online or using other services are not required to visit the railway stations as the similar platform used for booking purpose should be utilized for cancellation of the tickets,” they said adding that the online tickets’ holders would also avail from the full refund policy.

It is pertinent to mention here that Pakistan Railways announced on Friday to reduce operations due to coronavirus pandemic and suspended 34 passengers trains for up and down tracks from March 25.

The suspended passenger trains include Jinnah Express, Sir Syed Express, Mohenjo Daro Express, Bolan Mail, Thal Express, Marvi Express, Moosa Pak, Chenab Express, Faisalabad Express, Simran Sarkar, Faisal Express.

Pakistan Railways’ spokesperson said the trains will be suspended till further orders by the higher authorities.

In a video message, Railway Minister Sheikh Rasheed said more 24 trains have been suspended in view of the increasing number of cases of COVID-19 across the country. He added that overall 34 out of 134 trains were halted for travel operations.

Rasheed said 10 out of 15 freight trains are running at this time. The minister elaborated that a major reduction is seen in the number of passengers on a daily basis from around 200,000 to 165,000.

“Fares up to Rs80 million refunded to the passengers due to cancellation of the train operations. Passengers can also use their tickets for travelling from another train.”