Fact Check: Indian Railways extends suspension of all trains from August 12 to September 30 due to COVID-19

Amidst the ongoing news of Indian railways extending suspension of trains till 30th september, the Railway Board on Monday clarified that no new circular has been issued regarding resumption or suspension of trains and the services will remain suspended until further notice. A notification doing the rounds on social media stated that all mail/express, passenger and suburban train services will continue to remain suspended till September 30 due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. 

Some section of media is reporting that Railways has cancelled all regular trains till 30th September. This is not correct. No new circular has been issued by Ministry of Railways.

Special Mail Express trains shall continue to run.

— Ministry of Railways (@RailMinIndia) August 10, 2020

The notification dated August 11 also stated that even though the cancellation of trains has been extended, the special mail and express trains will continue to run as per the chalked out schedule. In Mumbai, currently  limited number of local trains  are being run for essential service workers will however continue to operate. Earlier, the board had said that the services will be suspended till August 12 in order to contain the spread of the contagious virus. This decision will not impact the special trains that are beeing planned for Konkan ahead of the Ganesh festival. The Central Railway will operate four trains on a daily basis, two each from Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus and Kurla Lokmanya Tilak Terminus. Meanwhile, India's coronavirus tally crossed the 22-lakh mark on Monday with 62,064 new cases, while the recoveries surged to over 15.35 lakh