JOIN US1,700 passengers, 3 stops for Shramik special trains
Shramik Special trains, ferrying migrant workers, will now carry its full capacity of passengers, says Indian Railways even as Railway Minister Piyush Goyal said the railways has the capacity to operate 300 trains daily.
As per revised guidelines issued by railways, the "Shramik Special" trains will also have three stops in the destination state apart from the final stop on the request made by states, the Railways state.
The capacity of passengers in each special train should be equal to the number of sleeper berths on the train, the Railways said.
Middle berths too will be allotted to passengers in the special trains, unlike earlier.
The "Shramik Special" trains have 24 coaches with a capacity to carry 72 passengers in each coach. At present, these trains are running with 54 passengers in each coach due to social distancing norms.
Railway Minister Piyush Goyal, who held a review meeting with top railway official, said the railway allocated 1200 trains to operate as Shramik Special train and ready to operate up to 300 trains daily.
He also appealed the states to make use of these trains to ferry stranded people including migrant workers, students and tourists.
The Minister said beginning with 4 trains on May 1, so far 468 Shramik Special trains operated.
" We want to carry as many migrants home as possible over the next few days and have appealed to states to send approvals," a senior official said.
Uttar Pradesh received highest trains followed by Bihar. However, despite the highest migrant workers from Rajasthan and West Bengal working across the country, these two states gave approval for the lowest number of trains for receiving.
The railways operate the train only after approval of both sending and receiving states.