NEW DELHI: At least 76 long-distance trains have been cancelled or their frequencies reduced from Wednesday till March-end due to low occupancy because of the coronavirus outbreak. Railways also advised all divisional railway managers on Tuesday to hike the price of platform tickets from Rs 10 to Rs 50 at important stations to prevent crowding.Ministry officials said they were assessing the extent of cancellations even as they appealed to passengers “to avoid non-essential train journeys”. The ministry urged passengers to ensure they are not running a fever before commencing their journeys. An internal assessment done last week had found that the share of cancellation of confirmed tickets had increased from 17% to 30%.Central Railway announced cancellation or reduced the frequency of 23 long-distance trains followed by South Central Railway (17 trains). Some of the trains that won’t operate from Wednesday include Mumbai-Pune Deccan Express , Howrah-Mumbai Duranto Express and Rajdhani Express from Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus to New Delhi’s Hazrat Nizamuddin