Railway zones are regulating their services keeping in view that demand for rail travel will be vastly reduced during Janta curfew planned on March 22 between 07:00 till 21:00 hours,
Suburban services in Mumbai, Delhi,Kolkata,Chennai and Secunderabad will be reduced to bare minimum, only to cater to essential services.
Passenger trains originating between midnight of 21/22 March,2020 will remain cancelled till 22:00 on March 22. Passenger trains already on run on the day will be allowed to run to their destinations.
Mail/Express and Intercity trains originating between 04:00 and 22:00 on March 22 will remained cancelled. . However trains already on run on the day will be allowed to run to the destination.
Passengers alighting at enroute stations from trains already on run and desirous to stay at the station will be accommodated in the waiting halls, waiting rooms and concourse. Railways will arrange for refreshment to such passengers.
Railways will be arranging adequate provision for hassle free refund to passengers affected by train cancellations.
So anybody who was going to travel during the time for emergencies or health reasons, would not qualify as an essential service and may now be stuck? I could see limited allowance based on notes and accommodations made, but full cancelations can hurt those that need the services. Besides, I thought it was just a drill, as it isn’t really a logical step to promote social distancing (those infected can pass it around the very next day).