The railways had already trimmed down its services on Friday by cancelling a majority of trains. However, it had allowed all trains that had already started the journey to continue. (Photo: PTI)

As India battles against the coronavirus pandemic, Indian Railways has announced the closure of all passenger rail services across the nation till March 31.

The railways had already trimmed down its services on Friday by cancelling a majority of trains. However, it had allowed all trains that had already started the journey to continue.

According to a new order issued by the railways, only goods trains will run from March 22 midnight to March 31 midnight.

"However, bare minimum suburban services and the Kolkata Metro Rail service will continue till March 22 midnight. Thereafter, these services will also be stopped till March 31 midnight," a spokesperson of the Indian Railways said.

The decision was taken in a Ministry of Railways meeting on Sunday.

However, trains which had commenced their journey prior to 4 am on March 22 will be allowed to reach their destinations.

The railways also announced that passengers will be able to avail a full refund for all cancelled trains June 21. "Adequate arrangements shall be made to facilitate hassle-free refund to passengers affected by train cancellations," railway officials said.

For trains cancelled by Railways for the journey period March 21 -June 21, refund across the counter can be taken on submission of the ticket up to three months from the date of the journey instead of the present three days or 72 hours rule, an order said.

In cases where the train is not cancelled but passenger wants to cancel his or her journey, then the TDR (Ticket Deposit Receipt) can be filed within three months from the date of the journey at the station. (instead of the extant rule of 3 days), the order stated.

The suspension of countrywide train services come after hundreds of migrant workers across India started leaving metro cities in hordes to go back to their hometowns via trains. Various government's measures to shut down non-essential businesses to ensure social distancing for preventing coronavirus epidemic caused overcrowding on trains bound for North India.

As a result of many state governments' diktat to keep restaurants, pubs, malls and other commercial establishments closed, migrants from states such as Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal have been rendered jobless, and were seen heading home.

Railway stations in Mumbai from where trains leave for north India witnessed a sudden spike in crowds in the past couple of days.

On Saturday, the Maharashtra government announced that only government personnel engaged in the provision of essential services would be allowed to travel by\ local trains in Mumbai from the next week.

Earlier it was announced that no passenger train will originate from any railway station in the country from midnight to 10 pm on Sunday in view of the "Janta curfew" announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

A railway order issued on Friday stated that mail and express trains will also stop services from 4 am to 10 pm on Sunday while all suburban train services will be reduced to a bare minimum as well.

Suburban services in Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai and Secunderabad shall be reduced to a bare minimum level only to cater to essential travel.