Indian Railways Ferries Over one lakh Stranded Migrants in just 6 days

New Delhi, May 6: Within just six days after launching Shramik Special trains, Indian Railway has run 115 Shramik Special trains and it has ferried more than one lakh stranded people from various parts of the country due to the coronavirus lockdown.

 

 

 

Till Tuesday evening, the national transporter had run 76 trains for the migrant workers who were stranded at their workplaces due to the coronavirus lockdown and wishing to go back to their homes.

 

The Karnataka government on Tuesday had canceled 10 trains from the state which were planned over the next five days. However, it said three trains would depart from Bengaluru for Bihar as planned.

 

Each special train has 24 coaches, each with a capacity of 72 seats. But the national transporter is allowing only 54 persons in a coach to maintain the social distancing norms by not allotting the middle berth to any passenger.

 

The Railways' expense for this operation is being borne by the Centre and the States in an 85:15 ratio. Also, the Railways is believed to be spending around Rs 80 lakh per service. However, it has not shared any official detail on how much it has spent in running these trains so far.