3.38 lakh passengers reach home in 233 Shramik trains operated by SWR

In a span of 44-days, the South Western Railway (SWR) ran 233 Shramik special trains transporting more than 3.38 lakh passengers, majority of whom were labourers, to their home towns in 17 States and Union territories of the country.

This ‘service’ has earned SWR Rs 28.9 crore. While the majority of the States receiving the trains have assured of remitting the tickets, and for those States which have not made such commitments, the Karnataka government has decided to foot the bill. Majority of the Rs 28.9 crore has not yet been paid to the SWR.

“The State government’s have assured of repaying the tickets. Revenue was not the top priority for the railways during the lockdown, but the necessity to transport the stranded people to their home States,” said SWR Central Public Relations Officer E Vijaya and added that a few of the States have already deposited the ticket fares with their respective railway division office.

According to the daily press release, Since May 3, when the first Shramik Express Train commenced its journey from Bengaluru railway station on June 14, SWR has operated 233 trains, majority of which began their journey from Bengaluru division. A total of 195 trains carrying 2.86 lakh passengers were transported from Krantivira Sangolli Rayanna (Bengaluru Station), Bengaluru Cantonment, Chikbanawar and Malur. This was followed by Hubballi division, which operated 21 trains from Hubballi, Hosapete, Bellari and Koppal. Mysuru division saw 12 trains carrying 16,974 passengers depart from Ashokapuram, Kabakaputtur, Hassan and Hosur (Tamil Nadu) to their home districts.

Bihar received a number of trains from Karnataka. As many as 1.07 lakh passengers travelled to various destinations of Bihar in 73 trains. Uttar Pradesh received 51 trains (73,498 passengers) from SWR, followed by West Bengal (27 trains, 40,395 passengers), Jharkhand (21; 30,962), Odisha (16; 24,357), Assam (11; 16,113), while 11 other States received 26 trains with 41,188 passengers. Trains from Karnataka have reached as far as Mizoram, Nagaland and Jammu & Kashmir.

On average, each train carried 1,350 passengers. However, there has also been an exception when the SWR has operated a train from Bengaluru to Guwahati, Assam on June 10 with just 287 passengers followed by Chikbanawar to Udhampur in (J&K union territory) with only 685 passengers on May 17. Whereas a train from Bengaluru cantonment to Balasore in Odisha saw 1,844 passengers travelling.

On 20, May the SWR operated 14 trains to various destination across the country from the three division and transported 21,095 passengers. Similarly, on 17, May SWR had operated 12 trains (16,873 passengers) and 10 trains (13,932 passengers) on May 16. The least number of trains ran on a single day was on June 8 and 14 (one train each, 2350 combined passengers). No trains ran from SWR zone on May 6 and 7.

Meanwhile, SWR received only four Sharmaik expresses from other States. Bengaluru, Hubballi, Yadgir and Vijaypur received one train each. Nearly 1,300 passengers returned to Karnataka in three of these trains.