New Delhi: The Indian Railways will stop operating trains till March 31 as part of the government’s measures to control the spread of Covid-19 –– a move that could cost the national transporter around ?150 crore in passenger earnings each day. However, around 9,000 goods trains that run every day will be allowed to operate as usual, the government has said.The Indian Railways operates 13,500 passenger and mail or long-distance trains every day. All services, including suburban trains, have been discontinued till this month-end, the railways ministry said in an order on Sunday.“In continuation of the measures taken in the wake of Covid-19, it has been decided that all passenger train services on the Indian Railways, including premium trains, mail or express trains, passenger trains, suburban trains, Kolkata Metro Rail, Konkan Railway etc shall be cancelled till 2400 hours of 31.03.2020,” the railway ministry said.Trains which had started their journey prior to 4 am on March 22 will be allowed to complete their run to the destinations.This comes at a time when 3,500-4,000 train services were already affected on Sunday following the janata curfew imposed nationwide.Halting of train services till this month end could incur a loss of ?14,000 crore.“This is a ballpark figure, we will need to look further into the financial implications of the move,” a senior railways official told ET. The yearly passenger earnings of the Indian Railways amount to ?56,000 crore.Earnings of the national transporter in the passenger reservation system (PRS) segment dipped 75.66% or by ?165 crore in the last seven days when the curbs on train services began, official data showed.A blanket curb on train services was necessary as trains are turning out to be the largest carriers of Covid-19, an official said.To keep people from rushing to stations to cancel counter-generated tickets, the Railways on Saturday announced full refund of tickets during the travel period between March 22 and June 30.The extent of curbs on rail travel, perhaps a first in the history of the national transporter, came as the number of positive cases of Covid-19 affected people in India inched closer to 350 on Sunday morning, while the global count crossed the 3,00,000-mark. The Centre has also announced curbs on inter-state bus and metro services till March 31.