The Northern Railways has cancelled the afternoon Shatabdi Express, running between Chandigarh and New Delhi (02046/45) from May 1 due to low occupancy and surge in Covid-19 cases. The Kalka-Shimla train (04527/28) has also been suspended.
Chief Public Relations Officer (CPRO) of Railway Board, Deepak Kumar, said that these trains have been cancelled in view of safety of the people. He said that if anyone has booked tickets of these trains can get a refund.
“Due to the pandemic, people were avoiding travel. Due to this, 60% seats were remaining vacant on the trains,” he said, adding that the morning and evening Shatabdi Express trains will continue as usual.
The train had restarted just recently on April 10 after remaining suspended since last March.
Chandigarh railway station superintendent JP Singh said that due to the spike in cases, Shatabdi trains have low occupancy. Trains running to other states, especially Uttar Pradesh and Bihar have much higher occupancy.
