The Indian Railways claimed on Sunday that they ran 2,813 Shramik special trains, carrying over 37 lakh passengers, till date. The Railways pointed that 80 per cent of total Shramik special trains are destined for various destinations in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar (1,301 for UP and 973 for Bihar).
Railways said nearly 60 per cent trains originated from Gujarat, Maharashtra and Punjab and are majorly destined for Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
"Most of the destinations in UP are around Lucknow - Gorakhpur sector and in Bihar around Patna. Of 565 trains on run since yesterday, 266 were going to Bihar and 172 to Uttar Pradesh," railways said.
Convergence of trains to these destinations caused congestion in the network. Further, increased time taken in de-boarding of passengers due to the various health and social distancing protocols at the stations is leading to congestion at terminals which further affects network congestion.
To ease the congestion few trains were diverted via Mathura, Jharsuguda. Further, route rationalisation order has been issued to avoid congestion on routes with heavy traffic. Round the clock monitoring at Railway Board level, zonal railway level and divisional level is being done to ensure that trains are not delayed.
The train running staff have also been sensitised to ensure punctual running of Shramik special trains. With these efforts, the congestion position has eased considerably and the mobility of trains has drastically improved.
Due to the surge in east bound trains leading to network congestion, trains got delayed and this affected the meals distribution schedule. IRCTC and Railways have mobilized resources to ensure regular supply of meals and water to the Shramik trains and minimize inconvenience to the passengers.
( With inputs from IANS )