Goyal said the Railways has allocated over 1,200 trains for stranded migrants, of which 300 can be operated daily
Railway Minister Piyush Goyal said on May 11 that a total of 468 Shramik Special trains had been run since the beginning of May, and that while four trains ran on May 1, the number of special trains have grown to 101 till May 10.
"I once again appeal to all state governments to speed up approvals for transportation of stranded migrants through ’Shramik Special’ trains and provide relief to workers at the earliest," Goyal said in a series of tweets.
Goyal said the Railways has allocated over 1,200 trains for stranded migrants, of which 300 can be operated daily "so that all migrants can reach their destination safely, quickly and comfortably".
The Railway minister also thanked the chief ministers of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Gujarat for their cooperation.
"Thanks to CM @MYogiAdityanath ji for his cooperation in giving approval for more than 250 trains already, bringing relief to migrant workers from Uttar Pradesh," Goyal said. He also thanked Bihar CM Nitish Kumar and Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani for their 'support' in granting approval for over 140 and 215 trains, respectively.
Earlier in the day, in a bid to ferry more migrants, the Railways had decided to carry around 1,700 passengers on board its 'Shramik Special' trains instead of the current 1,200.
According to an order issued, the railway zones have also been asked to provide three stops in the destination state other than the terminating station, at the request of the state governments.
It also said that the train capacity should be equal to the number of sleeper berths on the train.
The 'Shramik Special' trains has 24 coaches with a capacity to carry 72 passengers in each coach.Special Offer: Subscribe to Moneycontrol PRO’s annual plan for ₹1/- per day for the first year and claim exclusive benefits worth ₹20,000. Coupon code: PRO365
