Lockdown: Southern Railway gearing up to transport stranded guest workers, others from Chennai

V Ayyappan | TNN | Updated: May 1, 2020, 19:23 IST

An areal view of Chennai's Basin Bridge Railway Yard during the lockdown. Photo by A Prathap

CHENNAI: Southern Railway is gearing up to run point-to-point trains from Chennai to transport stranded guest workers, students and others to other states. Southern Railway will run the trains based on request from the Tamil Nadu government.
The move comes after ministry of railways announced that railways would be operating Shramik special trains to transport guest workers, pilgrims, tourists, students and other people stranded in different places due to the lockdown.
The first such train in the zone is being operated from Aluva in Kerala to Bhubaneswar in Odisha on Friday.
A railway official said that staff had been told to report for work at short notice to prepare coaches for the special trains if there is a request from the Tamil Nadu government. The zone is yet to get a request from the state government to operate such trains.
People who do not show flu-like symptoms will be allowed to travel in these trains.