COVID-19: East Coast Railway cancels 72 trains

Bhubaneswar (Odisha) [India], Mar 19 : The East Coast Railway (ECoR) on Saturday cancelled 72 mail and express trains as part of measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

Most of the trains cancelled were to run on Sunday. Some other trains, which were to run next week, have also been cancelled

The trains cancelled for Sunday include Puri-Chennai Express, Puri-Howrah Dhauli Express, Puri-Sambalpur Inter City Express, Bhubaneswar-Howrah Jan Shatabdi Express, Bhubaneswar-Anand Vihar (New Delhi) Odisha Sampark Kranti Express, Bhubaneswar-Bangalore Prashanti Express, Bhubaneswar-Bangiriposi Express, Bhubaneswar-Balangir Inter City Express, Bhubaneswar-Visakhapatnam Inter City Express and Bhubaneswar-Tirupati Express.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called for Janta Curfew on Sunday and urged people to stay in their homes as part of measures to control the spread of coronavirus.

According to an official release, local trains cancelled for Sunday include Mainline Electric Multiple Units (MEMUs) - Bhubaneswar-Brahmapur, Bhubaneswar-Palasa, Bhubaneswar-Bhadrak, Puri-Talcher, Puri-Angul, Puri-Cuttack, Bhadrak-Bhubaneswar, Bhadrak-Cuttack, Brahmapur-Bhubaneswar.

The East Coast Railway had on Wednesday cancelled five pairs of trains as a precautionary measure and had appealed to all passengers to avoid non-essential travel due to the coronavirus.

( With inputs from ANI )