Railways? Shramik Specials Carry Record 200,000 Passengers on a Single Day

The Shramik Special trains operationalised by the Indian Railways carried over 200,000 passengers including migrant workers, pilgrims, tourists, students and other persons stranded at different places due to the nationwide lockdown on Thursday.

This was for the first time that on a single day that the passenger count on Shramik Special trains crossed the 200,000-passenger mark.

The Railways commenced operation of these special services after the Ministry of Home Affairs order from May 1, on the occasion of Labour Day. Around 5,000 passengers availed of the service on the first day. Since then more than 1.2 million passengers have reached their home states by these special services.

These trains were terminated in various states like Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tamilnadu, Telangana, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and West Bengal.

Furthermore, the Railways was geared up to run up to 300 Shramik Special services to transport more than 400,000 stranded persons per day in coordination with various state governments, the public sector transporter said in a statement.

These Shramik Special trains are being run by Railways only receiving concurrence from both by the state which is sending the passengers and the state which is receiving them. Proper screening of passengers is ensured before boarding the train. During the journey, passengers are served free meals and water.