Railway Minister Piyush Goyal hit back at the Congress on Saturday after Rahul Gandhi accused the railways of making profit through Shramik trains, alleging that only those who "looted" the country can call subsidy a profit.

"Only those who looted the country can describe subsidy as profit. The railways spent more money in running Shramik trains than it received from state governments. People are now asking what happened to Sonia ji's promise of paying for people's tickets," Goyal tweeted.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi had said during the migrant crisis that her party will pay for tickets of Shramik train passengers after reports emerged that they, mostly poor migrants, were made to pay for their journey.

On Saturday, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi accused the government of benefitting by making profits during the coronavirus-induced lockdown when people were in trouble.

"There are clouds of disease and people are in trouble, but one seeks to benefit -- this anti-people government is converting a disaster into profits and is earning," he said in a tweet in Hindi, tagging a new report.

The railways spent Rs 2,142 crore on running Shramik Special trains but earned a revenue of just Rs 429 crore, official data showed.

The data, received through an RTI application filed by activist Ajay Bose, shows that the railways earned Rs 428 crore till June 29, by when most of the 4,615 trains had been run.

Additionally, it earned around Rs 1 crore by running 13 trains in July.