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Press Information Bureau
Government of India
Ministry of Railways
05 FEB 2021 3:56PM by PIB Delhi
Facilities to returning migrants by Indian Railways

To facilitate the stranded labourers and other persons, Indian Railways operated 4621 Shramik Special trains between 1st May, 2020 and 31st August, 2020 to help them in reaching their respective home states. Shramik Special trains were requisitioned by State Governments and under normal circumstances, such special trains are booked by State Government/any agency or by an individual on Full Tariff Rates which include normal fare for both directions, service charge, empty haulage charge, detention charge etc.

However, Indian Railways allowed booking of Shramik Specials on normal fare for one direction only and did not collect any fare directly from the passengers. Railways collected fare for Shramik Special trains from State Governments or their authorized representatives.  Further, to ensure safety of passengers and contain spread of COVID-19 pandemic, Railways made Special arrangements like enhanced sanitization, special security, medical arrangement, rake sanitization, free meals, water etc.  in Shramik trains. The State Government and Indian Railways served food and water free of cost. In all, the Railways have served 1.96 Crore meals and over 2.19 Crore Packaged Drinking Water Bottles apart from the services provided by the respective State Governments during the period.

This information was given by the Minister of Railways, Commerce & Industry and Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, Shri Piyush Goyal in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today.

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