Railways Says No More Demand for Shramik Special Trains, Offers to Run More on States' Request

There is no demand for Shramik Special trains from any state now, the Railways said Monday, but offered to run more if states request for them.

At a press conference, railway spokespersons said no Shramik Special ran on Sunday and none is scheduled for Tuesday either.

"There was demand for just one train from Karnataka and that train is running today (Monday) from Bengaluru to Muzaffarpur. There is no demand for such trains tomorrow as well. We will run them if demand arises from states," one of the spokespersons for the national transporter said, adding so far 4,596 Shramik trains have operated since May 1.

Giving details, he said the demand for Shramik Special trains has been reducing significantly starting June. On May 31, the Railways operated only 69 Shramik trains while the next day it run just over 100.

Shramik Special trains are being operated primarily on the request of the states which want to send migrant workers stranded due to the coronavirus lockdown to their native places.

The spokespersons also said that the Railways' earnings from the 200 mail/express special trains, which started operations from June 1, was Rs 20-22 crore per day. They said the occupancy in the 15 pairs of a/c trains running on Rajdhani routes from May 12 was 80 per cent.

They also said while the demand for migrant specials was reducing, the occupancy in trains going to big cities like Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Bengaluru from states such as Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal was almost 100 per cent, indicating beginning of economic revival.

These three states together accounted for 81 percent of the 4,596 Sharmik Special trains that have been operated so far.

The railways is running 100 pairs of mail/express trains from June 1, and 15 pairs of air-conditioned trains on the Rajdhani routes.

Giving an update on the Railways' COVID care coaches parked at stations in five states, they said that of the 59 patients admitted since June 20 in Uttar Pradesh's Mau, 56 have been discharged, while nine of the 32 admitted at Delhi's Shakurbasti station have been discharged so far.

They also said the Railways has decided to refund the full fare for passengers who have booked tickets on trains that have been cancelled now.

Recently, the Railways cancelled all its regular trains till August 12, but said special trains will continue to be in service.