NEW DELHI: The railways announced cancellation of all passenger trains till May 3 and suspended all booking of tickets – both at counter and online – for indefinite period.Lakhs of passengers had booked tickets with anticipation that train operations may resume from Wednesday. Sources said the decision to stop booking of tickets totally was taken to avoid any confusion.On Monday, TOI had reported that railways was likely to address the issue of tickets booked by passengers post the first phase of lockdown and may suspend booking tickets till there is clarity from government on resuming operation of passenger trains.The issue of advance booking had reportedly come up at a high level review meeting on transport and supply chain related issues on Sunday.Railways continuing advance booking of tickets after April 14 had surprised many officers considering that another government-owned transport entity, Air India , had suspended booking of tickets till April 30.“No booking of any type of tickets, including e-tickets shall be done till further advice. However, facility of online cancellation will remain functional for ticket bookings,” the railway ministry said.It said for tickets cancelled up to May 3, the refunds would be automatically remitted by while those who have booked across the counters, refund can be taken upto July 31.Nearly 39 lakh tickets booked will now be cancelled by railways.