Coronavirus Crisis: South Western Railway operates special trains to ferry stranded migrant workers, students

The South Western Railway operated six Shramik special trains on Sunday, carrying 7,353 passengers to their home town, said Chief Public Relations Officer, South Western Railway, Hubballi.

In a statement, Chief Public Relations Officer stated that the first Shramik special train carrying 985 passengers left from Chikkabanavara (Bengaluru) to Udhampur in Jammu and Kashmir.

This train carried mostly students and few families who were stranded in Karnataka due to the lockdown.

The second train departed from Malur to Bankura in West Bengal with 1,200 passengers and 47 children. These passengers were mostly migrant workers with their families and children returning to their hometowns. While the third Shramik special carrying 1,608 passengers left from Chikkabanavara, Bengaluru to Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh.

This was the first train to Madhya Pradesh and passengers were happy that all formalities like transportation to the station by BMTC buses and medical checkup etc were conducted smoothly.

The fourth special train from Malur to Danapur in Bihar left with 1,200 passengers for Danapur and the fifth train departed from Chikkabanavara to Gorakpur in Uttar Pradesh with 1200 passengers.

The sixth train departed for Agartala in Tripura from Chikkabanavara with 1,160 passengers belonging to northeastern region.

The South Western Railway has run 21 Shramik special trains so far based on the demand of the state governments for citizens to return their home towns. These passengers were registered with and communicated by the State Governments.

Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had recently granted permission for movement of stranded citizens including migrants labourers, workers, students, tourists to return to their native towns. As per the list provided by the Karnataka government, South Western Railway is arranging special trains. These special trains are being run from point to point with no stoppages en-route.

(ANI)

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