The South Central Railway has facilitated the journey of over three lakhs passengers through Shramik special trains, said Chief Public Relation Officer (CPRO) of South Central Railway, Ch Rakesh.
"The first Shramik special train service by Indian Railways was started from Secunderabad division where the first train departed from Lingampally to Guwahati. Till date, 235 special trains have facilitated the journey of over three lakh passengers from the South Central Railway. The journey of almost 1,90,000 passengers have been facilitated from Telangana, 98,000 passengers from Andhra Pradesh and at least 44,000 passengers from Maharashtra," Ch Rakesh told .
"The trains departing from South Central railway stations have covered destinations across the country majorly concentrating in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. The passengers have been sent to Jammu Kashmir, Tripura, Mpur, Mizoram and wherever the labourers wanted to go. We have been coordinating with all the state governments constantly," he added.
Ch Rakesh said that railways have also been providing food, water and other facilities to passengers.
"The passengers' movement is happening smoothly, most importantly the passengers are being taken care of. Food arrangements, social distancing and screening of the passengers are being taken care of by the railway department. There is SOP for facilitating the travel of the passengers, which we are adhering to it. These trains will run as per the request by the state government" he added.
The Indian Railways started operating the Shramik special trains since May 1, 2020, during the coronavirus-induced lockdown.
( With inputs from ANI )