Hyderabad: South Central Railway (SCR) operated 93 “Shramik Special” trains till May 17 and carried a total of 1,18,229 ( one lakh Eighteen Thousand two hundred and twenty-nine)passengers to their home towns. These trains were operated only after concurrence is given by both the states i.e the State which is sending the passengers and the State which is receiving them.
Indian Railways has decided to operate Shramik Special trains from 01st May 2020 based on advise of Ministry of Home Affairs regarding movement of migrant workers, pilgrims, tourists, students and other persons stranded at different places by special trains. South Central Railway is the first Zone on Indian Railways to start Shramik Special by running between Lingampalli and Hatia on May 1.
From then, till now , the Zone has operated a total of 93 Shramik Special Trainsto transport migrant workers and stranded passengers etc.. These trains were originated from different places served by South Central Railway in the states of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra state.
These Sharmik special trains were operated to various places in Bihar, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Uttarakhand and Manipur states. It is noteworthy to mention that the train ran from Bibinagar to Jiribam in Manipur is the farthest travelled train covering a distance of 2871 km followed by train from Chittor to Sahasra in Bihar state with a distance of 2589 Kms among the 93 specials.
All the precautionary measures like thermal screening of passengers, sanitizing the coaches are being observed scrupulously. During the journey, passengers were given free meals and water. Police personnel are being deployed to escort the trains to ensure safe travel of the passengers.
Gajanan Mallya, General Manager, SCR complimented the officers and staff of the Zone in achieving this feat of transporting more than one lakh stranded passengers in the need of hour and it is a proud moment for the Zone for actively taking part in the Nation’s endeavour, he added.
South Central Railway will continue running of this Shramik Specials in coordination with the concerned State Governments for the benefit of stranded passengers and requested all the needy passengers to register themselves with the concerned State authorities for traveling by the Shramik Special trains to their home town safely.
