TEHRAN, April 12 (Xinhua) -- Passenger and freight rail transport firms could suffer a loss of 37 million U.S. dollars by mid-June due to the spread of novel coronavirus, Secretary of Iran's Guild of Rail Transport Companies, Mehrdad Taqizadeh said on Sunday.

The number of rail passengers fell by 94 percent during the Iranian New Year holidays (March 20-April 3) compared with last year's similar period, Taqizadeh was quoted by Financial Tribune daily as saying.

Taqizadeh said that his guild will apply for a 12.5-million-dollar bailout and loans with an interest rate of 4 percent from the government as a supporting fund for rail companies.

According to semi-official Fars news agency, a total of 300,000 tickets were cancelled and 5.6 million U.S. dollars were paid back to people during the travel season of the New Year holidays over the concerns of the virus spread. Enditem

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