New Delhi / Mumbai, May 29, 2020

12 lakh workers of Indian Railways are working day and night to help our migrant workers reach home states. Starting from May 1, 2020, when Shramik Special Trains were started, 3,840 trains have been rolled out till Thursday, May 28, 2020, transporting 52 lakh passengers to their destinations. In the last one week (May 22 – 28, 2020), 20 lakh passengers were taken to their home state in 1,524 Shramik Special trains. This has been stated by Chairman, Railway Board Shri Vinod Kumar Yadav at a press conference held at National Media Centre in New Delhi today.

The Chairman informed that the demand of originating states for Shramik Special Trains is gradually coming down. Discussions were held with state governments and their requirements were collected on May 24, when 923 trains were asked for in all. When requirements were sought again on May 28, the figure has come down to 449 trains.

The Chairman informed: “We have told all state governments that Railways is ready to promptly run Shramik Specials as per their demand. We will schedule the trains on the same day as we get demand from originating state and we will run the train on the next day itself”. Stating that Indian Railways is fully prepared to transport migrant workers to their home states, he urged state governments to inform and publicise about Shramik special trains, register the names of those migrants who want to travel by Shramik Specials and then inform railways so that trains can be provided within a day.

The Chairman stated that about 80 percent of the passengers in the special trains run during this period travelled to Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. In these states, some problems were faced by the state governments in transportation of the passengers from the stations to their final destination. Hence, railways also provided local trains to take passengers to their nearby stations. More than 350 such local trains have been run so far.

Speaking about reports of delay and diversion faced by some Shramik Special Trains in reaching their destinations, the Chairman clarified: “Trains were diverted only during May 20 – 24, 2020. During this time, more than 250 trains were run every day. A record number of 279 Shramik Special trains were provided on May 20, 2020. 90% of these trains were to UP and Bihar, resulting in rail route congestion in these states and hence need for diversion in some cases. Out of the total trains run so far, only 1.85% of total 3,840 trains were diverted, and that too for only 4 days, in order to meet the demand of states for trains.”

On delays, the Chairman said: “Out of 3,840 trains run till yesterday, 3,836 trains reached their destinations within 72 hours. 10% trains faced a delay of 2-5 hours. Around 3,500 trains reached their destinations travelling at an average speed higher than that of mail express trains.” He added: “Even among the four trains which took more than 72 hours, some of them faced a delay, caused by landslide in Assam which led to flooding and hence track had to be closed for safety purpose. The trains were stopped for 12 hours at such stations where all facilities were available. This apart, a few trains had to be diverted from their route because of the gas leakage incident”.

The Chairman said, coordination between Indian Railways, originating station state and receiving state have led to the successful operations of Shramik Special Trains till date. “Most of the trains started between 2 PM and 12 midnight, due to the time required in preparation before origin, including health check-ups and other protocols in the originating stations; instead of every half an hour, trains have been run every 5 - 10 minutes”. Shri Yadav informed that, while food and water is provided by the respective state governments at originating and receiving stations along with conduct of health screening protocols; IRCTC and Railway Divisions and some NGOs provide food and water to the passengers during the journey.

The Chairman of Railway Board complimented the state governments for providing prompt services in the coordinated effort. Taking note of huge magnitude of work undertaken by state governments at originating and receiving stations where health screening and arrangements for further transportation of passengers to the end destination are made, he stated the example of Gorakhpur station which received passengers from 36 Shramik Special trains yesterday.

While briefing about the preparedness of railways in transporting migrant workers during the ongoing lockdown, he appealed that passengers with high risk co-morbidities, pregnant women, children below the age of 10 years and senior citizens aged above 65 years should refrain from rail travel, unless it is essential. This advisory is also in line with the advisories being issued by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, to protect vulnerable persons from COVID-19, informed the Chairman.

Answering a question regarding provision of food and water to the passengers, the Chairman stated that given the extraordinary situation due to COVID-19 and the lockdown, contractors and railway staff have been facing challenges in procurement and shortage of manpower. He informed that railways is trying its best to provide timely service to passengers. In order to overcome the difficulty, at certain divisions, family members of railway staff also cooked food that was to be provided to the travelling migrant passengers.

During the surge of requirement for Shramik trains between May 20-24, some of the 5,000 COVID Care Coaches were used to fulfill the demand for Shramik Special trains. Now that the requirement has been met, the coaches have been sent back, informed the Chairman.

***

DJM/SC

Follow us on social media: @PIBMumbai    /PIBMumbai    /pibmumbai  pibmumbai[at]gmail[dot]com

(Release ID: 1627722) Visitor Counter : 351