South Central Railway has transported over one lakh passengers to their home states by operating 93 Shramik special trains since May 1, officials said on Sunday.
South Central Railway (SCR) officials said that a total of 1,18,229 passengers were sent on these trains obtaning concurrence of both the host and receiving states.
Indian Railways has been operating Shramik trains since May 1 following Ministry of Home Affairs go-ahead on movement of migrant workers, pilgrims, tourists, students and other persons stranded at different places.
SCR is the first zone of Indian Railways to start Shramik train between Lingampalli and Hatia on May 1.
From May 1 to May 17, the zone ran 93 Shramik trains from different places served by SCR in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and Maharashtra to different places in Bihar, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Uttarakhand, and Manipur.
The train from Bibinagar near Hyderabad to Jiribam in Manipur had the longest route of 2,871 km followed by the train from Chittoor in Andhra Pradesh to Sahasra in Bihar, which covered 2,589 km.
All precautionary measures like thermal screening of passengers, sanitisation of coaches were observed scrupulously. During the journey, passengers were given free meals and water. Police personnel are deployed on these trains to ensure safety of passengers.
Gajanan Mallya, General Manager, SCR, complimented officers and other staff of the zone in achieving this feat.
SCR will continue to run Shramik specials in coordination with the states concerned for stranded passengers.
He requested all needy passengers to register themselves with the state authorities concerned for travelling by Shramik trains.
( With inputs from IANS )