Railways cancels 369 trains in parts of India as Agnipath protests continue

The Railways cancelled 369 trains on Saturday due to the agitation against the Centre’s recently announced Agnipath scheme for recruitment of soldiers in the armed forces, officials said.

These include 210 mail/express and 159 local passenger trains.

The Railways has also partially cancelled two mail/express trains, thus the total number of trains affected during the day is 371, the officials said.

The Centre’s announcement of the Agnipath scheme — which proposes to recruit soldiers for four years and retire 75 per cent of them without pension and other social security benefits after the end of their term — has been met with violent protests by youths in various parts of the country.