Bengaluru, Mar 24 (IANS): The South Western Railway (SWR) zone on Monday shut all reservation and unreserved ticket counters in the wake of coronavirus contagion, an official said on Monday.

"In view of the need to contain the spread of COVID-19, SWR has decided to close all unreserved and reservation ticket counters," a spokesman of the railway zone told IANS.

The shutdown will also include parcel and luggage offices, retiring rooms and also the UTS mobile app.

The app has been disabled till March 31 and no unreserved ticket can be booked through the app.

Meanwhile, the railway zone appealed to the passengers not to worry about the cancelled train tickets' refund.

"Passengers need not hurry for claiming refunds of tickets reserved at the counters. For their safety and convenience, refund rules have been liberalized," said the spokesperson.

According to SWR, full refund for the tickets booked in the cancelled trains can be claimed up to June 21.

"For trains cancelled by railways for journey period March 21 to June 21, passengers can take refund across counter on submission of tickets up to three months from the date of journey (instead of present rule of three days excluding day of journey)," said the spokesperson.

SWR has also listed other options to avail the refund facilities for the cancelled trains.