IRCTC suspends Mumbai-Ahmedabad Tejas Express for a month due to COVID-19 surge

• The situation will be monitored continuously and decision to operate the train will be taken accordingly, IRCTC has said

• The news comes as both Gujarat and Maharashtra recorded a huge spike in COVID-19 cases on April 1

New Delhi: State-run Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) has temporarily suspended the operations of Mumbai-Ahmedabad Tejas Express for a month, starting April 2, in view of the surge in COVID-19 cases. In a regulatory filing to the stock exchanges on Saturday, the Railway PSU said, "… due to rising of corona cases in Maharashtra and Gujarat, services of Ahmedabad-Mumbai-Ahmedabad Tejas Express is being temporarily suspended for a period of one (01) month with effect from 2nd April, 2021."

"The situation will be monitored continuously and decision to operate the train will be taken accordingly," it added.

COVID-19 cases spike in Gujarat and Maharashtra

The news comes as both Gujarat and Maharashtra recorded a huge spike in COVID-19 cases on April 1. While Gujarat reported 2,410 COVID-19 cases in a single day, Ahmedabad accounted for the biggest share in the surge with 626 cases. Mumbai, on the other hand, recorded the highest-ever spike with 8,646 new COVID-19 infections. 

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Night curfew has been imposed in Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat and Rajkot until April 5 and the state government has made negative RT-PCR test mandatory for anyone entering the state.

IRCTC

IRCTC is a fully owned subsidiary of Indian Railways that provides ticketing, catering, and tourism services to the Indian Railways. It was initially wholly owned by the government and operated under the administrative control of the Ministry of Railways, but has been listed on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) since 2019, with the government continuing to hold majority ownership. The PSU operates the Mumbai-Ahmedabad and the New Delhi-Lucknow Tejas Express.

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