Around 70 Shramik special trains ferried over 70,000 migrant workers

New Delhi : By running around 70 Shramik special trains since May 1, the Indian Railways has transported around 70,000 migrant workers across the nation.

Till Monday, the national transporter had run 55 trains. On the number of people ferried, the railway official said every train carried around 1,000 people. “Thus, so far, we have transported around 67,000 passengers,” he said.

According to him, on Tuesday 21 more Shramik Special trains will start from different cities, including Bengaluru, Surat, Sabarmati, Jalandhar, Kota and Ernakulam.

The first Shramik special train departed on May 1, almost 40 days after the lockdown in India was announced. All other passengers trains are suspended.

Special guidelines were issued by the government to ensure a safety of the passengers inside the trains.

The city authorities will handover tickets to passengers and hand over the total fair to the railways. Besides sanitisation, there are provisions for meal and packaged water on trains by the railways.

Since the lockdown was announced, the railways has been only running freight and special parcel trains to ensure supply of essential items during the lockdown.