Special trains between Howrah in West Bengal and coronavirus ‘hotspot’ areas including Delhi, Mumbai and Ahmedabad will now run only once a week, railway officials said on Monday.
The Mamata Banerjee administration in West Bengal had urged the Indian Railways to reduce the number of trains from hotspot areas as Covid-19 numbers in the state have been hitting new highs almost every day over the past one week.
A spokesperson of the South Eastern Railway said that instead of daily trains, only one train would run between Howrah and Ahmedabad every week. The Howrah-Ahmedabad special will leave every Friday starting from July 10, while the Ahmedabad-Howrah Special will leave every Monday from July 13.
Similarly, the Howrah– Mumbai CSMT special will leave Howrah every Wednesday from July 15, while Mumbai CSMT- Howrah will leave Mumbai every Friday from July 17.
“The timings and stoppages will remain the same,” the official said.
The special trains between Howrah and New Delhi – both via Patna and via Dhaanbad – would also operate once a week starting from July 11. These trains used to run at least three to four times a week till date.
Earlier, the civil aviation ministry suspended flights coming to Kolkata from six cities including Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Chennai and Ahmedabad between July 6 and July 19. No such restrictions were imposed on flights leaving Kolkata and travelling to the six cities.
{{/usCountry}}Earlier, the civil aviation ministry suspended flights coming to Kolkata from six cities including Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Chennai and Ahmedabad between July 6 and July 19. No such restrictions were imposed on flights leaving Kolkata and travelling to the six cities.
{{/usCountry}}Till date, West Bengal has registered 22,987 Covid-19 cases with 861 new cases being reported on Monday. The death toll now stands at 779.