Coronavirus: Railways cancels 22 trains; hikes platform ticket to Rs 50

New Delhi, Mar 17: To avoid overcrowding amid rising cases of novel Coronavirus, the Indian Railways on Tuesday decided to hike platform tickets from Rs 10 to Rs 50 for 250 stations in the country.

This has been done by six divisions of the Western railway zone -- Mumbai, Vadodra, Ahmedabad, Ratlam, Rajkot, Bhavnagar -- that covers around 250 railway stations.

In Southern railway zone, price of platform ticket only in Chennai has been raised, officials said, adding in Central zone, comprising of five divisions -- Mumbai (CST), Bhusawal, Nagpur, Solapur, Pune -- prices have been raised across all stations.

The Central Railways has suspended 22 long-distance trains till March 31. Some of these trains include Deccan Express between Mumbai and Pune, Rajdhani Express, Nagpur Humsafar Express, and Pragati Express.

Pune Humsafar, Hyderabad Intercity, Duronto Express have also been suspended.

This comes at a time when the state governments and the health ministry has asked people to refrain from gathering in large number at a place to contain the coronavirus spread.

With 12 new cases of novel coronavirus infections reported in India on Tuesday, the number of confirmed COVID-19 patients in India climbed to 126, up from 114 a day earlier, the Health Ministry said on Tuesday.