The Indian Railways on Thursday informed that it would provide full refund for cancelled tickets for passenger trains scheduled to run from June 1 within the state of Maharashtra.
“Maharashtra government has informed Railways that inter-district travel is prohibited within the state of Maharashtra. It is therefore desired that tickets of all the passengers whose originating as well as terminating stations fall within the state of Maharashtra be cancelled and full refund be given without deduction of any cancellation/clerkage charges etc,” read a message from the Railway Board.
“Due to restrictions imposed by Maharashtra government for travel within the state of Maharashtra by train, your ticket has been cancelled and full refund shall be given,” it further read.
It also said that till further notice, intra-state bookings within Maharashtra should not be permitted.
A railway spokesperson said that this does not mean that trains cannot originate from stations in Maharashtra. “It means that people cannot board and deboard a train from within the state,” he said.
For instance, if a train from Mumbai to Kanpur goes via Nashik, no passenger who has boarded the train from any station in Maharashtra can deboard within the boundaries of the state. However, a passenger can board the train from Nashik and travel outside the state, the spokesperson explained. “Only those who have availed tickets to travel within the state cannot do so now,” he added.
On Wednesday, Ministry of Railways in consultation with Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) and Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) decided to resume train services from June 1.
Meanwhile, almost 1.50 lakh tickets were booked within two hours of opening the bookings for the 100 pairs of passenger trains, officials said Thursday.